1512, English, Art work edition: Creation of Adam, detail Sistine Chapel Ceiling Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564

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Creation of Adam, detail Sistine Chapel Ceiling
 
Bookmark: http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/239410
Physical Description
  • Cross-Platform, 215.162 KB
  • Slide
Published
  • 1512 AD
Language
  • English

Edition details

Title
  • Creation of Adam, detail Sistine Chapel Ceiling
Creator
  • Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564
Other Creators
  • Brigham Young University
Published
  • 1512 AD
Physical Description
  • Cross-Platform, 215.162 KB
  • Slide
Subjects
Notes
  • In 1508 Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint a fresco on the chapel ceiling. The final product was a grand drama of more than 300 figures in the most visually and theologically complex of all Renaissance fresco cycles. The center of the ceiling illustrates nine episodes from Genesis, alternating between large and small, that chronicle the Creation and Fall of humankind, from the first day of the biblical Creation to the Drunkenness of Noah. This image depicts Creation of Adam, one of the larger scenes, in which Michelangelo presents this remarkable event with a humanistic interpretation. Adam’s powerful musculature and idealized proportions seem to exemplify the culmination of a century of research into the nature of human anatomy and symbolize the nobility of God’s creation. Each body is painted with a sculptor’s eye for how light and shadow convey volume and texture. The imminent contact between the two index fingers denotes the gift of divine power to humankind. The High Renaissance tendency to combine classical and Christian traditions is here manifested, as the Lord appears in the manner of a pagan God wrapped in a billowing cloud and garbed in a short tunic that exposes the vigor of his perfect body. Yet, the central Christian message is still paramount. Traditionally, the half-formed female figure encircled by the Lord’s left arm was assumed to be Eve, but recent studies have proposed that she is the Virgin Mary with the Christ child at her knee. This identification would stress the Christian belief that Adam’s original sin eventually instigated the sacrifice of Christ, and thus, the redemption of all humankind. The composition itself emphasizes this point; the viewer’s eyes are led from Adam’s outstretched hand to God’s extended arm, His shoulders, and finally to His left arm, which points to the Christ child’s face.
  • civ metadata CID; Civ Archive 016 correct picture; 98401130.jpg
  • S:\PROJECTS\Civilization Digital Lib\Final Source\Resource Documents\Images\CD Archive 016\98401130.jpg
Source
  • Lawrence Cunningham &​ John Reich, Culture and values: a survey of the Western humanities, 4th ed. (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998), 297; Fred S. Kleiner and Christin J. Mamiya, Gardner's Art Through the Ages, 12th ed., vol 2 (Belmont, CA: Thomson/​Wadsworth, 2005), 626; Frederick Hartt, History of Italian Renaissance art: painting, sculpture, architecture 3rd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1987), 544.
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Language
  • English
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