Michelangelo

Elisha Curtiss Humanities 101 Collin Hughes February 25, 2009 Michelangelo ‘The Last Judgment’ Have you ever taken the opportunity to take a good look at Michelangelo’s famous painting, ‘The Last Judgment’' If you are like me, you might look at a painting but not pay attention to the details within the painting. Michelangelo when painting ‘The Last Judgment’ incorporated many artistic covert messages. Some of the paintings had an explanation of why Michelangelo chose to incorporate it into the painting where others there was no explanation given. Michelangelo was famous for many of his sculptures and was becoming well known everywhere by the early 1500’s. In fact it is said that there was two well known artists, Raphael and Danoto Bramante, were afraid of Michelangelo’s success. They were so afraid of his achievements they persuaded Pope Julius to have Michelangelo paint the inside of the Sistine Chapel in hopes that he would fail and his reputation would be ruined in doing so. (Eye witness to history) Michelangelo at first refused to do the paintings within the Sistine Chapel because he was fond of making sculptures but Pope Julius finally convinced him to do the paintings. (Eye witness to history) Michelangelo started the paintings within the Sistine Chapel in 1508 and finished in four years in 1512. In 1534 Pope Clement VII asked Michelangelo to paint ‘The Last Judgment’, but died before it was finished and Pope Paul III Farnese forced for the project to be completed quickly, it was completed in 1941. Michelangelo painted ‘The Last Judgment’ to depict the last coming of Christ and the apocalypse. The area within the painting I found intriguing is what is said to be St. Bartholomew holding the skin of Michelangelo. The painting shows a man holding the skin of another man in his left hand and a knife in his right hand. The man and the men around him are looking the opposite direction of the skin looking towards Jesus and Mary within the center of the painting. The skinned man has his eyes open and has a depressed look on his face. I am curious to why Michelangelo would have painted himself as being flayed alive and if there is significance to why St Bartholomew is the man holding the skin of Michelangelo. St. Bartholomew, a Hebrew decent, is one of the twelve apostles from the gospels Matthew, Luke and Mark. (New Advent) Bartholomew may have also been known as Nathanial because the name Bartholomew was not a proper name of an apostle. It’s said that Bartholomew traveled to many uncivilized countries in the east such as Persia, Arabia, India and finally Armenia to preach the gospel. These particular Countries worshipped Idols, which I could not find and research on what the “Idols” were. (Margaret Odrowaz-Sypniewska) Astyages ordered to have Bartholomew skinned alive and hung from a cross for converting his brother, Polymius King of Armenia. (New Advent) There are other paintings and sculptures portraying St. Bartholomew holding his own skin. But in the painting of the ‘The Last Judgment’ it is Michelangelo’s skin that St Bartholomew is holding. What could be the reason of this' Did Michelangelo feel empty for some reason' Was he being mortared for some reason in the process of the painting' In my research I found one unreliable source that explains the reasoning of why Michelangelo would have painted St Bartholomew holding his skin. The research fits with the rest of the articles I had found pertaining to this subject. It is said that because of his dislike in the idea of having to paint ‘The Last Judgment’ and the figure of St. Bartholomew depicts the satirist and erotic writer Pietro Aretino who had tried to take a valuable drawing from Michelangelo. He holds the painter's flayed skin as a symbol of attempted victimization. (Wikipedia) Reflecting on the research how can we use this information to relate with what is happening in the world today' Michelangelo was forced to do something he really did not want to do and gave up about fourteen years of his life to finish it. For many years while painting ‘The Last Judgment’ and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel he was lying on his back in tight courtiers and rushed to get it finished. How many times have we in our life time felt we were forced to do something in unsuitable conditions and pressured to get something done not only in a timely manner but also to be done properly' I know myself in the work force and in school I am under that kind of pressure on a daily basis and it can become extremely strenuous, aggravating and tiresome. As a comparison with Michelangelo portraying himself in the painting with just his skin I see it as being an empty and lost feeling. Maybe this could pertain to the feeling of not fitting into the religious aspect of life. He is portrayed in the painting as the right side of Jesus who has one hand pointed up to the heavens and the other pointed down to the demands below. Maybe Michelangelo felt as if he did not fit in, in either heaven or hell. To reflect this issue into the world today, with all the different religions in the world today and the different religions fighting over whose religion is right we may feel that same way of not fitting in. Feeling empty of no body or soul, just skin. In conclusion, although I did not find exactly of what I was looking for to answer the question of why Michelangelo portrayed himself in just skin being held by a man in the painting, It did help me put into perspective of the humanities in the world today and how a painting from 2000 years ago can mold the present. Work Cited Fenlon, J.F. (1907). St. Bartholomew. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved March 1, 2009 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02313c.htm Michelangelo Paints the Sistine Chapel," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2005). Odrowaz-Sypniewska, Margaret. St Bartholomew: Patron Saint of the Odrowaz Clan. Retrieved March 1, 2009 from The Polish Saints. http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/StBart.html The Last Judgment (Michelangelo). (2009, February 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:49, March 2, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php'title=The_Last_Judgment_(Michelangelo)&oldid=273204586