Gallery of Sistine Chapel ceiling

Main article: Sistine Chapel ceiling

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Plan showing the pictorial elements of the ceiling.

The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is one of the most renowned artworks of the High Renaissance. The ceiling is that of the large Sistine Chapel built within the Vatican by Pope Sixtus IV, begun in 1477 and finished by 1480. The paintings on the ceiling represent Biblical stories about the Creation, Downfall and Salvation of Humankind. This gallery illustrates the main article at Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Gallery

Sistine Chapel ceiling left.png

The left half of the entire ceiling, after restoration

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The right half of the entire ceiling, after restoration

Biblical Narratives

Along the centre of the ceiling are nine scenes depicting the Story of Creation, the Downfall of Humanity and the Story of Noah as told in the Book of Genesis.

The First Day of Creation, God divides light from Darkness. This was the final narrative to be painted.

Detail of the figure of God, which was painted by Michelangelo in a single day and may represent Michelangelo himself, painting the ceiling.

To the left, God creates the Earth and, to the right, God creates the Sun to light the day and the Moon to light the night.

God separating the waters from the heavens. (Context)

Separating the waters.

The Creation of Adam, one of the most famous of all paintings, shows God giving life to the first man, while Eve, the first woman, watches from beneath his cloak.

The iconic image of the Hand of God giving life to Adam.

The Creation of Eve is based on a sculpture in Bologna.

The Downfall of Adam and Eve and their Expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Two episodes are combined in a single frame.

Noah's Ark floats in the background while people struggle to escape the rising water of the Great Flood.

Detail from the scene of the Great Flood.

The sacrifice of Noah after the Flood (in context, before restoration). This picture is thought by some to represent The sacrifices of Cain and Abel.

"Sacrifice of Noah", Detail

Prophets and Sibyls

The Prophets of Israel and the Sibyls of the pagan world foretold the coming of the Messiah. Both have been included by Michelangelo as a sign that the Messiah (Jesus Christ) was to come not just for the Jews but also for the Gentiles (non-Jewish people).

Daniel

Joel

Zechariah

Jeremiah lamenting the fall of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel hears the word of the Lord.

The prophet Isaiah

The prophet Jonah

The Cumaean Sibyl

The Erythraean Sibyl

The Persian Sibyl

The Delphic Sibyl

The Libyan Sibyl

Detail of the Delphic Sibyl

Pendentives

The four corner pendentives show violent episodes in which the People of Israel were rescued from enemies, or from their own sinful ways.

The Brazen serpent

Haman's punishment

David and Goliath

Judith and Holofernes

Ancestors

The ancestors of Jesus are listed in the Biblical books of Matthew and Luke. This is the first known large painted series, although they were often shown in stained glass. See Tree of Jesse. Although each picture has a title, the characters cannot be positively identified.

Achim / Eliud

Aminadab

Asa / Jehosaphat / Joram

Azor / Sadoch

Eleazar / Matthan

Hezekiah / Manasseh / Amon

Jacob / Joseph

Jesse / David / Solomon

Josiah / Jechoniah / Sheatiel

Naason

Rehoboam / Abijah

Salmon / Boaz / Obed

Uzziah / Jotham / Ahaz

Zerubbabel / Abiud / Eliakim

Detail of the Achim lunette.

Detail of the Asa, Jehosaphat and Joram lunette

Detail from the Eleazar lunette

Detail of the Ezechias lunette.

Detail of the Salmon lunette.

Spandrels

Above the windows are a series of families with young children. The children may represent particular children who are mentioned in the Bible, such as Isaac and Samuel. The composition of many of the pictures is similar to that found in depictions of the Holy Family resting on the Flight into Egypt.

In the Salmon spandrel a woman is making a garment while her child looks on.

In the Ozias spandrel a young child is attempting to breast feed from his exhausted-looking mother, who clasps a round loaf in her hand.

Jesse spandrel, before restoration

Jesse spandrel, after restoration. In this spandrel, a young woman who may represent the Virgin Mary gazes out with a prophetic expression. The details of her eyes were removed in the recent restoration.

The Ezechias spandrel shows a small child gazing out of the picture.

Ignudi

The Ignudi which surround the narrative scenes may show the perfection of Humanity, or may represent angels. They were often imitated by other artists.

The Drunkenness of Noah group

The Sacrifice of Noah group

Above the Erithraean Sibyl

To the right of "Isaiah"

The Creation of Eve group

From "The Creation of Eve" group, above the Cumean Sibyl

The Separating the Waters group

The great muscularity of the lower back of this figure suggests that he was a stonemason.

The First Day of Creation group

Above Jeremiah. This figure is one of the most reproduced on the ceiling.

Above Lybian Sibyl

Shields

The shields represent violent episodes in the history of Israel.

The Death of Uriah

Detail of The Idol of Baal

References

• Massimo Giacometti , The Sistine Chapel, a collection of essays on aspects of the chapel, its decoration and the restoration of Michelangelo's frescoes, by Carlo Pietrangeli, André Chastel, John Shearman, John O'Malley S.J., Pierluigi de Vecchi, Michael Hirst, Fabrizio Mancinelli, Gianluigi Colallucci, and Franco Bernabei. 1984, Harmony Books ISBN 0-517-56274-X
• Gabriele Bartz and Eberhard König, Michelangelo, 1998, Könemann, ISBN 3-8290-0253-X

External links

• Vatican Museum

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