Brief description of Michelangelo's painting The Last Judgment. The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)

Job Michelangelo "The Last Judgment" , now being a masterpiece, was previously subjected to extremely harsh assessment and criticism. It was called a frankly obscene painting that served to betray the truth of the Gospel. The papal court did not accept the result in the form of a huge fresco that occupied the entire wall behind the Sistine Chapel. The basis of the “Last Judgment” was the Second Coming of Christ, which in general is the fundamental idea on which Christianity is based. This implies the return of Jesus followed by the onset of the Apocalypse. He worked on his grandiose work for more than five years.

“The Last Judgment” acted as one of the main ideas implemented as huge church frescoes. Traditionally, such frescoes found their place above the main entrance to the city, on the back side. The fact that the painting was placed above the altar made it even more unusual. This is not surprising, because in this way the traditional canons were ignored, and therefore this became a reason for indignation, not to mention the destructive criticism of the film “The Last Judgment.”

Michelangelo's painting was painted under inspiration from the Bible, where, in particular, the future Apocalypse was reflected. "played its role" The Divine Comedy", a famous work by Dante. However, despite such factors influencing the essence of the result, “The Last Judgment” still reflects its own vision of the fate that awaits humanity.

The characters from Michelangelo's fresco "The Last Judgment", by the way, turned out to be more than recognizable in it. So, the background for it is the blue sky, in the center is the Virgin Mary. The judge, as is clear, is Christ, who decides human destinies with a gesture of his hand. According to some researchers, the face of Jesus in the Last Judgment fresco is a portrait of Michelangelo’s favorite student. It was Tomazzo Cavalieri.

Michelangelo "The Last Judgment": Heinrich William Pfeiffer

For the first time, the artist depicted Christ unrecognizable. It’s not clear how something like this could happen, practically near a church? After all, it was in it that the truly existing image was worshiped. Apparently finished work more similar to Apollo Belvedere, whose bust was often recreated during pagan times.

Near Christ, as noted, is the Virgin Mary. His mother sits with her face down, which allows her to not see her son dispensing justice. Moreover, otherwise any of her intercession will have no force. It is generally accepted that master Michelangelo depicted his own admirer and close friend, Vittoria Colonna, in this fresco of his “The Last Judgment.” The latter was the daughter of one of the most noble families in Italy, the couple Agnes di Montefeltro and Fabrizio Colonna.

The similarity of St. Bartholomew with the Italian writer Pietro Aretino

When examining Michelangelo's fresco "The Last Judgment", historians also revealed the similarity of St. Bartholomew with the Italian writer, Pietro Aretino. He was also a blackmailer and satirist. In addition, in his time he exerted a strong influence on the field of art as a whole. And finally, Aretino is generally considered to be the progenitor of modern examples of erotic literature.

In the Last Judgment fresco, he holds in his hands a flayed skin, on which, in turn, you can see a self-portrait of Michelangelo. It is likely that the master In a similar way pointed out how he sees Aretino’s slander against him. The reason for this was Michelangelo’s rejection of the advice that the writer gave him regarding his work “The Last Judgment.”

Saint Peter, who returns the keys to the church to Jesus, recalls Paul III, who reigned from 1534 to 1549, that is, at the time the fresco was created.

Trumpeting angels on the Last Judgment fresco

Bottom of the painting

At the bottom of the painting of this work by Michelangelo, from among the bodies that are resurrected after death, upon careful examination you can see a person half emerging from the ground. IN in this case we're talking about O Girolamo Savanrola, religious preacher of Italian origin. He was a member of the Dominican Order, and was later charged with schismatics.

As a result, Pope Alexander VI excommunicated him from the church, after which he was sentenced to death by hanging and burning as a heretic. This happened in 1497. Michelangelo's Last Judgment practically predicted the beatification of Savanrola. What is noteworthy is that it took place in Florence in 1997, that is, after many hundreds of years.

If you pay attention to the lower right corner, then in Michelangelo’s work “The Last Judgment” you can see the master of ceremonies under Paul III, Biagio da Cesena. Here he appeared in the guise of the chief judge in the underworld - Minos. The latter was in complete surprise and shock from the twisted and naked bodies depicted by the artist. Michelangelo's fresco "The Last Judgment" was subject to severe criticism on his part, in which he focused on the fact that such a shameful spectacle was simply unacceptable in a sacred place. In his opinion, the maximum where Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” will fit successfully is a tavern or a bathhouse.

Master Michelangelo’s reaction was not long in coming, therefore, as a hint of special mental abilities, he added the ears of a donkey to the master of ceremonies in his image in the fresco “The Last Judgment.” Having been subjected to such humiliation, he turned with a complaint to the ruling pope. The latter, in turn, answered Cesena that he had no power at all, be it about hell or the devil itself, and therefore it was better if he himself could come to an agreement with Michelangelo.

Secrets of the Last Judgment fresco as its property

Needless to say, Michelangelo’s work “The Last Judgment,” which was scandalous in many ways, gave rise to fierce disputes between critics representing the Catholic Reformation and those who considered the artist a genius. Michelangelo was accused of not following the truth dictated by the Bible, and, moreover, endowing Christian themes with pagan mythology. Cardinal Caraffa reacted extremely negatively to the presence in the chapel of the main Christian temple naked characters. This led to the fact that they organized a whole campaign adhering to censorship and demanding the destruction of the Last Judgment fresco, which, in their opinion, was indecent. Despite this, Michelangelo had a very high authority. For this reason, no one dared to correct the scandalous painting above the altar while the master was alive.

Hidden nudity

In 1564, and this is more than 20 years since the death of Michelangelo, the Congregation of the Trentian Council decided to hide the nudity of the figures depicted in the fresco. The painting of the genitals was entrusted to Daniela da Volterra, a fierce and sincere admirer of the great master Michelangelo. Considering who the performer was, changes were kept to a minimum while preserving the original painting as much as possible. However, the story of Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment” does not end there. The death of Pius IV, the then pope, which occurred in December 1565, necessitated the removal of the scaffolding from the chapel. The funeral was to be held here, and after that a conclave was scheduled to gather.

Michelangelo's fresco often became a topic of discussion under Pope Pius V. In particular, the ideas for it boiled down to a new painting, that is, the Last Judgment should have been replaced. The same idea arose under Gregory XIII, as well as under Clement VIII. One way or another, no one decided to completely destroy the fresco. Only some fragments in it were subject to correction. In total, forty figures were subject to repainting, for which the fresco secco technique was used, which involves applying changes to dry plaster.

Thanks to this effect on the surface of the painting, it was possible to restore the “Last Judgment” in the original, which happened during the restoration of the chapel that began in 1990. It was decided to remove those changes that were made to the painting “The Last Judgment” after 1600. Only those changes that were made by Volterra were left.

The Sistine Chapel is a sanctuary of the human body

Michelangelo's work "The Last Judgment", devoid of layers of dust and soot and noticeably updated, was presented by John Paul II as part of a solemn mass on April 8, 1994. Thus, they drew a line in a dispute that had been simmering for many centuries. Speaking about the appropriateness of the naked bodies depicted in the work “The Last Judgment” in the chapel, the pope pointed out that in itself

Michelangelo

The Last Judgment, 1537-1541

Il Giudizio universale

Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums, Vatican

The Last Judgment (Italian: Giudizio universale, lit. "Last Judgment" or "Final Judgment") - fresco by Michelangelo on the altar wall Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The artist worked on the fresco for four years - from 1537 to 1541. Michelangelo returned to the Sistine Chapel twenty-five years later after completing the painting of its ceiling. The large-scale fresco occupies the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. Its theme was the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse.

“The Last Judgment” is considered the work that completed the Renaissance era in art, to which Michelangelo himself paid tribute in painting the ceiling and vaults of the Sistine Chapel, and opened new period disappointments in the philosophy of anthropocentric humanism.

History of creation

Clement VII

In 1533, Michelangelo was working in Florence on various projects in San Lorenzo for Pope Clement VII. On September 22 of this year, the artist went to San Miniato to meet the pope. Perhaps it was then that the Pope expressed a desire for Michelangelo to paint the wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel on the theme of “The Last Judgment.” In this way, the thematic completion of the cycles of paintings on scenes from the Old and New Testaments that decorated the chapel would have been achieved.

Probably, the pope wanted his name to stand in line with the names of his predecessors: Sixtus IV, who commissioned Florentine artists in the 1480s to create cycles of frescoes based on the stories of Moses and Christ, Julius II, whose pontificate Michelangelo painted ceiling (1508-1512) and Leo X, at whose request the chapel was decorated with tapestries based on the cardboards of Raphael (c. 1514-1519). To be among the pontiffs who took part in the founding and decoration of the chapel, Clement VII was ready to call on Michelangelo, despite the fact that the elderly artist worked for him in Florence without the same energy and with the involvement of an increasing number of assistants from among his students.

It is unknown when the artist entered into a formal contract, but in September 1534 he arrived from Florence in Rome to begin work on the new work (and to continue work on the tomb of Julius II). A few days later dad died. Michelangelo, believing that the order had lost its relevance, left the papal court and took up other projects.

Paul III

Preparatory drawing for the fresco. British Museum, pencil, 38.5x25.3 cm Preparatory drawing. Bonn Museum, Bayonne, pencil, 17.9x23.9 cm

However new dad, Paul III, did not give up the idea of decorating the altar wall with a new fresco. Michelangelo, from whom the heirs of Julius II demanded that work on his tomb continue, tried to push back the start of work on the painting.

At the direction of the pope, the frescoes, executed in the 15th century and early XVI centuries, had to be hidden new painting. This was the first “intervention” in the history of the chapel in a complex of images thematically related to each other: the Finding of Moses, the Ascension of the Virgin Mary with the kneeling Sixtus IV and the Nativity of Christ, as well as portraits of some popes between the windows and two lunettes from the cycle of frescoes on the ceiling of the chapel with the ancestors of Jesus , painted by Michelangelo more than twenty years ago.

At preparatory work With the help of brickwork, the configuration of the altar wall was changed: it was given a slope into the room (its top protrudes approximately 38 cm). In this way, they tried to avoid dust settling on the surface of the fresco during work. Two windows located in the altar wall were also sealed. Destroying the old frescoes must have been a difficult decision, firstly preparatory drawings Michelangelo tried to preserve part of the existing wall decoration, but then, in order to maintain the integrity of the composition in the spatial abstraction of the limitless sky, he had to abandon this too. Surviving sketches (one in the Bayonne Museum Bonnet, one in the Casa Buonarotti and one in British Museum) highlight the artist’s work on the fresco in development. Michelangelo abandoned the usual division of the composition into two worlds in iconography, but interpreted the theme of the Last Judgment in his own way. He built an extremely dynamic rotational movement from the mass of chaotically intertwined bodies of righteous and sinners, the center of which was Christ the Judge.

When the wall was ready for painting, a dispute arose between Michelangelo and Sebastiano del Piombo, until then a friend and employee of the master. Del Piombo, who found support in this matter from the pope, argued that for the sixty-year-old Michelangelo, working in pure fresco technique would be physically difficult, and suggested preparing the surface for painting with oil paint. Michelangelo categorically refused to carry out the order in any other technique than “pure fresco,” saying that painting a wall with oils was “an activity for women and rich lazy people like Fra Bastiano.” He insisted that the already completed oil base be removed and a layer intended for fresco painting be applied. According to archival documents, work on preparation for painting continued from January to March 1536. The execution of the fresco painting was delayed for several months due to the acquisition of the necessary paints, mainly very expensive blue, the quality of which was fully approved by the artist.

The scaffolding was installed and Michelangelo began painting in the summer of 1536. In November of the same year, the pope, in order to free Michelangelo from his obligations to the heirs of Julius II, mainly Guidobaldo della Rovere, issued a motu proprio, which gave the artist time to complete the “Judgment” without being distracted by other orders. In 1540, as work on the fresco was nearing completion, Michelangelo fell from the scaffolding and needed a month's break to recover.

The artist, as during the period of work on the ceiling of the chapel, painted the wall himself, using help only in preparing the paint and in applying the preparatory layer of plaster for painting. Only one Urbino assisted Michelangelo, probably he painted the background. Later studies of the fresco, in addition to the addition of draperies, did not reveal any interference in Michelangelo's original painting. Experts counted approximately 450 giornata (daily norms of fresco painting) in the form of wide horizontal stripes in the “Last Judgment” - Michelangelo began work from the top of the wall and gradually went down, dismantling the scaffolding.

The fresco was completed in 1541 and was unveiled on All Saints' Eve, the same night 29 years earlier when the chapel's ceiling frescoes were unveiled.

Criticism

Even during the process of work, the fresco aroused, on the one hand, boundless and unconditional admiration, and on the other, harsh criticism. Soon the artist faced the threat of accusations of heresy. The Last Judgment caused a conflict between Cardinal Carrafa and Michelangelo: the artist was accused of immorality and obscenity because he depicted naked bodies without hiding the genitals in the most important Christian church. A censorship campaign (known as the "Fig Leaf Campaign") was organized by Cardinal and Ambassador of Mantua Sernini, the purpose of which was to destroy the "indecent" fresco. The Pope's master of ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena, upon seeing the painting, said that “it is a shame that in such a sacred place naked bodies are depicted in such an indecent form” and that this fresco is not for the pope’s chapel, but rather “for public baths and taverns." Michelangelo responded by depicting Cesena in Hell in the Last Judgment as King Minos, judge of the souls of the dead (lower right corner), with donkey ears, which was a hint of stupidity, naked, but covered with a snake wrapped around him. It was said that when Cesena asked the pope to force the artist to remove the image from the fresco, Paul III jokingly replied that his jurisdiction did not extend to the devil, and Cesena himself should come to an agreement with Michelangelo.

Censored records. Restoration of the fresco

Marcello Venusti, fragment of a copy of the Last Judgment. Saint Blaise and Saint Catherine (1549), Naples, Museo di Capodimonte

The nudity of the characters in The Last Judgment was hidden 24 years later (when the Council of Trent condemned nudity in religious art) by order of Pope Paul IV. Michelangelo, having learned about this, asked to tell the pope that “it’s easy to remove nudity. Let him bring the world into decent shape.” The draperies on the figures were painted by the artist Daniele da Volterra, whom the Romans awarded with the derogatory nickname Il Braghettone (“the pant writer”, “the undershirt”). A great admirer of his teacher’s work, Volterra limited his intervention to “covering” the bodies with clothes painted in dry tempera, in accordance with the decision of the Council of January 21, 1564. The only exceptions were the images of St. Blaise and St. Catherine of Alexandria, which caused the strongest indignation of critics who considered their poses obscene, reminiscent of copulation. Yes, Volterra remade this fragment of the fresco, cutting out a piece of plaster with Michelangelo’s original painting; in the new version, Saint Blaise looks at Christ the Judge, and Saint Catherine is dressed. Most of The work was completed in 1565, after the death of the master. Censorship records continued later, after the death of Volterra, they were carried out by Giloramo da Fano and Domenico Carnevale. Despite this, the fresco was criticized in subsequent years (during the 18th century, when the author's painting appeared through later records in 1825), and it was even proposed to destroy it. The first restoration attempts were made in 1903 and in 1935-1936. During the last restoration, completed in 1994, all late edits to the fresco were removed, while records relating to XVI century remained as historical evidence of the requirements for work of art presented by the era of the Counter-Reformation.

Pope John Paul II put an end to the centuries-old controversy on April 8, 1994, during a mass held after the restoration of the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel:

Michelangelo seems to have expressed his own understanding of the words from the book of Genesis: “And Adam and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed of it” (Genesis 2:25). The Sistine Chapel is, so to speak, the sanctuary of the theology of the human body.

Composition

In The Last Judgment, Michelangelo somewhat departed from traditional iconography. Conventionally, the composition can be divided into three parts:

The upper part (lunettes) are flying angels, with attributes of the Passion of Christ. The central part is Christ and the Virgin Mary between the blessed. Lower - the end of times: angels playing the trumpets of the Apocalypse, the resurrection of the dead, the ascension of the saved to heaven and the casting of sinners into Hell.

The number of characters in The Last Judgment is a little over four hundred. The height of the figures varies from 250 cm (for the characters in the upper part of the fresco) to 155 cm in the lower part.

Lunettes

Angels with attributes of the Passion of Christ, left lunette

The two lunettes feature groups of angels carrying symbols of the Passion, a sign of Christ's sacrifice for the salvation of mankind. This is the starting point for reading the fresco, anticipating the feelings that engulf the characters in “The Last Judgment.”

Contrary to tradition, angels are depicted without apteri wings, which Vasari simply called Ignudi, they are presented in the most complex angles and clearly stand out against the background of the ultramarine sky. Probably, among all the figures in the fresco, the angels are closest to the ideals of beauty, anatomical strength and proportion of Michelangelo’s sculptures; this unites them with the figures of naked youths on the ceiling of the chapel and the heroes of the “Battle of Cascina”. In the tense expressions on the faces of the angels with wide open eyes, a gloomy vision of the end of times is anticipated: not spiritual peace and enlightenment of the saved, but anxiety, trembling, depression, which sharply distinguish Michelangelo’s work from his predecessors who took on this topic. Masterly work of the artist who painted angels in the most difficult situations, aroused the admiration of some viewers and the criticism of others. So Giglio wrote in 1564: “I do not approve of the efforts that the angels show in Michelangelo's Judgment, I am talking about those that support the Cross, the column and other sacred objects. They look more like clowns and jugglers than angels.”

Christ the Judge and the Virgin Mary with saints

Christ and Mary

The center of the entire composition is the figure of Christ the Judge with the Virgin Mary, surrounded by a crowd of preachers, prophets, patriarchs, sibyls, heroes of the Old Testament, martyrs and saints.

In traditional versions of the Last Judgment, Christ the Judge was depicted on the throne, as the Gospel of Matthew describes, separating the righteous from the sinners. Usually, Christ’s right hand is raised in a blessing gesture, while his left hand is lowered as a sign of judgment on sinners; stigmata are visible on his hands.

Michelangelo only partially follows the established iconography - his Christ against the background of clouds, without the scarlet robe of the ruler of the world, is shown at the very moment of the beginning of the Judgment. Some researchers saw here a reference to ancient mythology: Christ is depicted as the thunderer Jupiter or Phoebus (Apollo), in his athletic figure they find Buonarotti’s desire to enter into competition with the ancients in the depiction of a naked hero with extraordinary physical beauty and power. His gesture, authoritative and calm, attracts attention and at the same time calms the surrounding excitement: it gives rise to a wide and slow rotational movement in which everyone is involved characters. But this gesture can also be understood as threatening, emphasized by a concentrated, albeit impassive, appearance, without anger or rage, according to Vasari: “...Christ, who, looking with a terrible and courageous face at sinners, turns and curses them.”

Michelangelo painted the figure of Christ, making various changes, for ten days. His nudity drew condemnation. In addition, the artist, contrary to tradition, depicted Christ the Judge as beardless. On numerous copies of the fresco he appears in a more familiar appearance, with a beard.

Next to Christ is the Virgin Mary, who humbly turned her face away: without interfering in the decisions of the Judge, she is only waiting for the results. Mary's gaze, unlike Christ's, is directed towards the Kingdom of Heaven. In the appearance of the Judge there is neither compassion for sinners, nor joy for the blessed: the time of people and their passions has been replaced by the triumph of divine eternity.

Surrounding Christ

The first ring of characters around Christ and Mary Saint Bartholomew

Michelangelo abandoned the tradition according to which artists at the Last Judgment surrounded Christ with the apostles and representatives of the Tribes of Israel seated on thrones. He also shortened the Deesis, leaving Mary as the only (and passive) mediator between the Judge and human souls without John the Baptist.

Two central figures surrounded by a ring of saints, patriarchs and apostles - a total of 53 characters. This is not a chaotic crowd; the rhythm of their gestures and glances harmonizes this giant funnel of human bodies stretching into the distance. The characters' faces express various shades anxiety, despair, fear, they all take an active part in the universal catastrophe, calling on the viewer to empathize. Vasari noted the richness and depth of expression of the spirit, as well as his unsurpassed talent in depicting the human body “in the strange and varied gestures of young and old, men and women.”

Some characters in the background, not included in the preparatory cardboard, were drawn a secco, without detail, in a free pattern, with an emphasized spatial separation of the figures: in contrast to those closest to the viewer, they appear darker, with blurry, indistinct contours.

At the feet of Christ, the artist placed Lawrence with the lattice and Bartholomew, perhaps because the chapel was also dedicated to these two saints. Bartholomew, identified by the knife in his hand, holds the flayed skin on which Michelangelo is believed to have painted his self-portrait. This is sometimes taken to be an allegory for the atonement of sin. The face of Bartholomew is sometimes considered a portrait of Pietro Aretino, Michelangelo’s enemy, who slandered him in retaliation for the fact that the artist did not take his advice when working on “The Last Judgment.” A hypothesis was also put forward, which received a wide public response, but was refuted by most researchers, that Michelangelo depicted himself on flayed skin, as a sign that he did not want to work on the fresco and carried out this order under duress.

Some of the saints are easily recognizable by their attributes, while various hypotheses have been built regarding the definition of other characters, which are not possible to confirm or refute. To the left of Christ is Saint Andrew with the cross on which he was crucified; the drapery that appeared on it as a result of censorship records was removed during the restoration. Here you can also see John the Baptist in a fur skin; Daniele da Volterra also covered him with clothes. The woman to whom St. Andrew is addressing may be Rachel.

On the right stands Saint Peter, with the keys that will no longer be needed to open the Kingdom of Heaven. Next to him, in a red cape, is possibly Saint Paul and a naked young man, almost next to Jesus, probably John the Evangelist. The figure kneeling behind Peter is usually considered to be Saint Mark.

Second ring of characters. Left-hand side

Left-hand side

This group consists of martyrs, spiritual fathers of the Church, virgins and blessed (about fifty figures).

On the left side, almost all the characters are women: virgins, sibyls and heroines of the Old Testament. Among the other figures, two women stand out: one with a naked torso and the other, kneeling in front of the first. They are considered personifications of the Church's mercy and piety. Numerous figures in this series cannot be identified. Some blessed ones from among the resurrected ones rush upward, drawn into the general powerful rotational movement. Gestures and facial expressions of the characters show excitement much greater than that of those who are next to Christ.

Second ring of characters. Right side

The right group - martyrs, confessors and other blessed ones, is dominated by male figures (approximately eighty characters). On the far right is an athletic man holding a cross. It is assumed that this is Simon of Cyrene, who helped carry Jesus the cross on the way to Golgotha. Another possible identification is Dismas, the prudent robber.

Below him, Saint Sebastian rises onto a cloud, clutching arrows in his left hand, a sign of his martyrdom. The figure of Sebastian is seen as the artist’s tribute to ancient eroticism.

A little to the left are depicted Blasius of Sebaste and Saint Catherine of Alexandria; this part of the fresco was rewritten by Daniele da Volterra. They are followed by Saint Philip with a cross, Simon the Zealot with a saw, and Longinus.

The end of times

The bottom of the fresco, in turn, is divided into five parts: in the center, angels with trumpets and books announce the Last Judgment; at the bottom left is the resurrection of the dead, at the top is the ascension of the righteous; at the top right is the capture of sinners by devils, at the bottom is hell.

The theme of death occupied a huge place in the works of the deeply religious Michelangelo: the rupture of the shell of the mortal body and the breakthrough into Eternity interested the artist. Michelangelo's Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel develops and embodies this idea in a completely new way.

A brief history of the creation of the altar image

In 1534, the brilliant creator received an order from Pope Clement VII to paint the huge wall of the Sistine Chapel, which was 13.7 m long and 12 m high. He did not start work, but when Clement VII died, his successor Paul III called in 1537 Michelangelo to Rome. Work did not begin until the slope of the wall was changed and the artist received ultramarine, which was more expensive than gold. At this time he was no longer young, he was 62 years old. Enormous work on scaffolding on wet plaster required colossal not only moral, but also physical effort, with which, having created the Last Judgment, Michelangelo plunged his contemporaries into awe on October 31, 1537.

Opening ceremony of the fresco

The highest clergy, led by Pontiff Paul III (Farnese), and the invited laity were shocked by the cosmogonic spectacle they saw. Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" had no analogues. The shock was so great and the tension so strong that Paul III fell to his knees, begging God not to remember his sins on the Day of Judgment.

Contemporaries perceived the fresco with fear and admiration, amazed at the skill and strength of Michelangelo and the grandiose picture of the end of times. This should be emphasized, because the second coming of Christ is a universal catastrophe, in which the earth will regain its original state. Humanity, as a historically existing one, is moving into a new quality from temporary and mortal life to eternal life. Some will find salvation and eternal life in heaven, while others will end up in hell for their sins.

Vatican. The Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo's Last Judgment fits into the entire program of the Sistine Chapel. On the vault - the creation of the world and man and his fall, the beginning of civilization, on the walls - Moses and Christ as life under the laws, life under grace, and, finally, on the end altar wall the Last Judgment is depicted.

This was exceptional for the iconography of the time because the Last Judgment was depicted on the western wall. When leaving the church, the believer saw a warning about what awaits him at the end of time. The placement of the Last Judgment on the altar further enhances its significance. Now we begin to examine Michelangelo's fresco "The Last Judgment". The description begins.

Punishing and merciful God

In the center of the composition is Christ-Helios, that is, Christ as light, like Apollo. This is originally an early Christian idea. Around him are the saints and martyrs who are in heaven. Closest to him: Mary, St. Peter, St. John the Baptist, St. Lawrence and St. Bartholomew. Christ is in heaven in a completely unusual form without a beard, as a giver of light and surrounded by this light. This is completely new image Savior.

His pose simultaneously expresses mercy and anger. Because with one hand he blesses. It is directed to the left towards the righteous. Another pointing to right side, - on sinners, he punishes. The figure of the Savior is imbued with power and unearthly beauty. We must remember that Michelangelo was a Neoplatonist. Therefore, his body, mind and soul were one. The gesture of the right raised hand pacifies the excitement and allows the slow rotational movement of all the characters in the fresco to begin.

Self-portrait

The most amazing thing in the fresco is the image of Bartholomew sitting at the feet of Christ. He holds his skin, flayed from him by the pagans. This is how Michelangelo depicts his self-portrait.

That is, he makes himself involved in the end of times, becomes a participant in this universal cataclysm. In this way he prays to God for forgiveness, appearing before him in a strange appearance. This is what the central part of Michelangelo's Last Judgment fresco looks like.

Taking the righteous to heaven

The resurrection of the dead and the acquisition of bodies is decided in an unusual way. There is nothing like it in the history of art. The righteous, having lost their material heaviness, overcome gravity and slowly soar upward.

Saints and martyrs help them, supporting them along this path. There are even rosary beads that they grab onto: that is, we will be saved only through prayer and asceticism. This image invites you to think about how scary it is to appear in court and not give an account of the rights and wrongs of your deeds. The inexorable, dispassionate wheel of samsara appears before us, when a person will receive what he deserves only for earthly deeds. This is how Michelangelo Buonarroti saw the Last Judgment.

Lunettes

Above, in two lunettes, Michelangelo depicts angels carrying instruments of the passions. This is a cross in one, which is a symbol of martyrdom and humiliation, and a stake in the other. It signifies transitory earthly power. Angels without wings against an ultramarine background are painted in very complex poses and are reminiscent of the terrible sacrifices of Christ. This is what the upper part of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s work “The Last Judgment” created by the gloomy genius looks like. The description of creation continues.

Initial version

It should be borne in mind that Michelangelo originally depicted all the saints, Christ and the Virgin Mary, naked. He proceeded from the text of St. Paul that when everyone is resurrected, they will find new celestial bodies destined for eternal life.

Therefore, for Michelangelo, the specific person, the specific martyr or saint he portrays was not important. All of humanity came together at this moment of the end of time. Humanity is united in its nakedness. This has nothing to do with the concept of earthly nakedness, but on the contrary, nakedness makes everyone equal in the face of God. We are different only in clothes, and when they are not there, then we are all equal. This idea was important to Michelangelo.

Pope Paul IV demanded that all the characters, more than four hundred of them, be “dressed.” The work was carried out by Daniele da Volterra.

Dive into Hell

Below, angels trumpet the beginning of the Last Judgment. They are holding two books.

The little book of life, which is directed towards the righteous, and big book death, which looks towards sinners. There are many more of them: many are called, but few are called. And on the one hand we see sinners being thrown down, a cycle goes on, then the resurrected righteous people slowly rise up. The entire composition is given an epic pathos.

For sinners, Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment” (we continue to present the description of the painting to your attention) is truly terrible. They are dragged by the devils to the boat of Charon, who will transport them forever to Hell. Malicious faces look out from it, which will cause people torment as punishment for their sins. Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" is an eternal reminder that one must live according to the Ten Commandments, which Christ proclaimed when he descended from Mount Tabor.

One of many

Just look at the figure of a sinner covering his sorrowful face with his hand. An expression of fear and hopelessness is written on his face: the melancholy and despair is shown by the mask frozen on his face. The devils grabbed him tightly by the legs and, smiling joyfully, dragged him along. His powerful, athletic body makes no attempt to free himself. Only now did he realize that the Last Judgment had entered his sinful existence. Michelangelo captures the inevitability of punishment.

The Sistine Chapel got its name in honor of Pontiff Sixtus IV. It was he who ordered its construction in order to protect himself from the encroachments of the Medici and Turkish sultans.
For painting a chapel from Florence from former enemies the best painters arrived.
Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the chapel twenty-five years before working on The Last Judgment. He quickly completed the work in four years.
For painting nude bodies, some called the painter a heretic. In response to this, the caustic artist depicted Cardinal Cesena in Hell in the form of King Minos with long ears donkey His nakedness is hidden by a coiled snake. Very difficult character was at Michelangelo's.

“The Last Judgment” (the fresco of the Sistine Chapel) might not have survived to our times, since one of the pontiffs in 1596 wanted to destroy the artistic creation.

Analysis artistic language works of art. Using the example of Michelangelo Buonarroti's painting "The Last Judgment"

"The Last Judgment" is, first of all, a colossal world drama. Only a mighty genius can convey the entire horror of a worldwide catastrophe in one episode, in several individual stories. Depravity of morals, debauchery and cynicism, effeminacy and deceit, corruption and frivolity - all this causes moral failure and demands atonement for broken divine laws. With love in his heart and anger on his lips, the great Michelangelo addresses the world here.

After the death of Pope Andrian VI in 1523, a representative of the Medici family, Clement VII, was elected pope. During his pontificate, the troops of the Spanish King Charles V captured and defeated Rome in May 1527. When news of this reached Florence, the Medici were expelled from there and the republic was restored in the city. The pope, first of all, observing the interests of his family, urgently reconciled with the Spaniards and besieged Florence, the siege of which lasted 11 months. All this time, Michelangelo supervised the construction of the city’s defensive structures. When Florence fell, Pope Clement VII announced that he would forget about the master’s participation in the defense of the city if Michelangelo immediately resumed work on the Medici tomb at the Church of San Lorenzo. Feeling constant anxiety for the fate of his family and for his life, Michelangelo was forced to agree to this.

And during a visit to Rome, Pope Clement VII wanted Michelangelo to re-paint the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel with the image of the Last Judgment. In 1534, almost a quarter of a century after the completion of the last painting, the artist moved to Rome and began work on one of the most ambitious frescoes in the entire history of world painting.

The artist interprets the scene of the “Last Judgment” as a universal, all-human catastrophe. This fresco, huge in scale and grandiose in concept, does not and could not contain images of life-affirming power, characteristic of Renaissance artists. If before creativity Michelangelo was imbued with faith in man, the belief that he is the creator of his own destiny, but now, painting the altar wall, the artist shows man helpless in the face of this fate.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) - one of the most amazing masters of the High and Late Renaissance in Italy and in the world. In terms of the scale of his activities, he was a true universalist - a brilliant sculptor, a great painter, architect, poet, and thinker.

The Last Judgment is a fresco by Michelangelo on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The artist worked on the fresco for four years - from 1537 to 1541. Michelangelo court fresco Sistine

Michelangelo returned to the Sistine Chapel twenty-five years after he completed painting its ceiling. The large-scale fresco occupies the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. Its theme was the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse.

The center of the entire composition is the figure of Christ (the judge) with a raised right hand. Next to him is a drooping and mournful Madonna. Compassionate, as if depressed by what is happening, Madonna turns away, human sorrows are close to her in a motherly way. Around them are powerful figures forming a semblance of a crown (a crowd of preachers, prophets, patriarchs, sibyls, heroes of the Old Testament, martyrs and saints.

The top of the fresco on both sides under the arches of the vault is occupied by images of equal size, as if lifted by a hurricane onto the clouds. These are all the instruments of passion (torture) of Jesus Christ (a sign of the sacrifice of Christ, which he made for the salvation of mankind).

On the left we see the cross (a symbol of martyrdom and humiliation) on which he was crucified.

On the right is a column (a symbol of passing earthly power), near which he was scourged. Around them are several free-floating nude figures holding a sponge, nails and a crown in the air.

To the right of the apostles are the martyrs with their instruments of torture (symbols of the suffering they endured for their faith):

1. Andrey with a cross.
2. Sebastian with arrows in his hand - according to legend, the pagan Roman imperial guards threw arrows at him.
3. Catherine with a cogwheel - between two such spiked wheels the saint was, according to legend, torn apart by order of the Roman prefect in Alexandria (modern Egypt
4. Lawrence with the grate on which he was roasted alive by the verdict of the Roman court in pagan Rome, the capital of the empire

At the left foot of Christ there is a figure of St. Bartholomew, holding a scraper in one hand and his own skin in the other (he took martyrdom, he was skinned alive).

On the left side of Christ stands out the same gigantic figure as Peter. She is usually called Adam (the founder of the human race). Around her there are also figures of the righteous. The group of righteous people contains female saints, martyrs and sibyls, the most important female characters Old Testament.

The huge figure protecting the kneeling girl is usually considered Eve. She stands out for her humanity and touchingness; A young girl fell to her knees in search of salvation.

Under the central group is a cloud with angels described by the Evangelist John. Seven angels blow the trumpets of the Apocalypse, calling for judgment, and two angels hold in their hands the books of lives (books of good and evil deeds) with the names of those who have found eternal salvation and those who are doomed to the torments of hell. Angels awaken the dead with the sound of trumpets.

To the left of the cloud with angels below is the earth with the dead emerging from their graves.

Some of them are only skeletons, the bones of others have begun to be covered with flesh, and still others (the righteous) are already ascending to heaven. Angels and righteous people help them rise.

A sinner whose legs are pulled by the devils makes a great impression; covering one eye with his hand, he looks at what is happening around him with the other eye, full of despair and horror.

In the center is the entrance to purgatory, where several demons are eagerly awaiting new sinners. A hellish abyss yawns in the depths.

The bottom of the fresco on the right is occupied by the image of hell.

The dark figure of the ferryman across the hellish river, Charon, is placed here; he ferociously expels those condemned to eternal torment from his boat into hell with blows of the oar.

Minos is depicted in the very corner on the right. Judge of souls with donkey ears (symbol of ignorance) and a snake entwined around him.

In The Last Judgment, Michelangelo somewhat departed from traditional iconography. Conventionally, the composition can be divided into three parts:

n The upper part (lunettes) are flying angels, with attributes of the Passion of Christ.
n The central part is Christ and the Virgin Mary between the blessed.
n Lower - the end of times: angels playing the trumpets of the Apocalypse, the resurrection of the dead, the ascension of the saved to heaven and the casting of sinners into Hell.

Michelangelo's fame exceeded any expectations.

Immediately after the consecration of the Last Judgment fresco, pilgrims from all over Italy and even from abroad rushed to the Sistine Chapel. "And this serves as an example in our art great painting, sent down by the earthly god, so that they could see how fate guides the minds of the highest order who descended to earth, having absorbed grace and divine wisdom" (Vasari).

The Sistine Chapel. 7. Michelangelo. Part 3
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)

"THE LAST JUDGMENT"

In 1534, almost a quarter of a century after finishing the painting of the Sistine ceiling, Michelangelo began work on one of the most ambitious frescoes in the history of world painting.

* * *

Pope Clement VII was considering the theme of the fresco painting of the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, and in 1534 he settled on the theme of the Last Judgment. Michelangelo was called upon to complete the picturesque decoration of the Sistine Chapel with the image on its altar wall of the Last Judgment, and on the opposite wall of the Fall of Lucifer. Of these two colossal frescoes, only the first was executed, in 1534 - 1541, already under Pope Paul III. Michelangelo worked on the largest fresco of the Renaissance, again alone, without the participation of assistants.

Both the theme of the painting “The Last Judgment” and the nature of its solution indicate the shifts that occurred in the creative evolution of the master, especially evident when comparing the painting of the altar wall and the vault. If early work is dedicated to the first days of creation and glorifies the mighty creative energy of man, then “The Last Judgment” contains the idea of the collapse of the world and retribution for acts committed on earth.

This fresco is one of the most mature and famous works masters Michelangelo departs from traditional iconography, depicting not the moment of the Judgment, when the righteous are already separated from the sinners, but its beginning: Christ, with a punishing gesture of a raised hand, brings down the dying Universe before our eyes.

Michelangelo depicted all the characters naked, and this was a deep calculation of the great master. In the physical, in the infinite variety of human poses, he, who was so able to convey the movements of the soul, through a person and by means of a person, depicted the entire huge psychological gamut of feelings that overwhelmed them. But to depict God and the apostles naked - for this in those days great courage was needed.

The holy martyrs and those who found salvation crowd around Christ. Compassionate, as if depressed by what is happening, Madonna turns away, human sorrows are close to her in a motherly way.

Six years of intense work once again connect Michelangelo with the Sistine Chapel. This time he covers about 200 square meters with painting. meters of the altar wall of the chapel. Moreover, Michelangelo decided a daunting task- combine the painting of the altar wall with the one painted earlier vault fresco in such a way as not to interfere with the perception of each of them and at the same time combine them in one ensemble. And the artist coped with this task brilliantly.

If the vault painting is complex system with architectonically clear divisions and a multitude of compositions and images replacing one another, then the altar wall is occupied by one gigantic composition. Many groups and figures are rhythmically united in it. The space in this fresco is shallow, but it seems to have the ability to endlessly expand in all directions, which helps to increase the scale and monumentality of the image.

Despite the one-sidedness with which the artist treated its subject in this painting, deviating from all Christian traditions and presenting the Second Coming of Christ as a day of wrath, horror, struggle of passions and hopeless despair, despite the depressing impression, it amazes with the courage of its design and the peculiar grandeur of the composition , amazing mastery of drawing, especially from angles, and generally belongs to the most marvelous monuments of painting, although it is inferior in dignity to the ceiling of the same chapel.

Apocalypse and Dante are the sources of the Last Judgment:

* * *

And when He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for what seemed like half an hour.
And I saw seven angels who stood before God; and seven trumpets were given to them.
And another Angel came and stood before the altar, holding a golden censer; and a great deal of incense was given to him, so that with the prayers of all the saints he would place it on the golden altar, which was in front of the throne.
And the smoke of incense ascended with the prayers of the saints from the hand of an Angel before God.
And the Angel took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the ground: and there were voices, and thunder, and lightning, and an earthquake.
And the seven Angels, having seven trumpets, prepared to blow.
The first angel sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and fell to the earth; and the third part of the trees was burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
The second angel sounded his trumpet, and it was as if big mountain blazing with fire, plunged into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood,
and the third part of the living creatures that dwell in the sea died, and the third part of the ships perished.
The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a lamp, and fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
The name of this star is “wormwood”; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many of the people died from the waters, because they became bitter.
The fourth angel sounded, and a third part of the sun and a third part of the moon and a third part of the stars were struck, so that a third part of them was darkened, and a third part of the day was not light, just like the nights. ...
The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star fall from heaven to earth, and the key to the well of the abyss was given to it.
She opened the pit of the deep, and smoke came out of the pit like smoke from a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the vault.
And out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given the power that the scorpions of the earth have.
And she was told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any greenery, or any tree, but only to people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.... The sixth angel sounded, and I heard one voice from the four golden horns altar standing before God,
said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: release the four angels bound at great river Euphrates.
And four Angels were released, prepared for an hour and a day, and a month and a year, in order to kill the third part of people. ...
And the seventh angel sounded, and loud voices were heard in heaven, saying: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.
And the twenty-four elders, sitting on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,
saying: We thank You, O Lord God Almighty, Who art and was and who is to come, that You have received Your great power and reigned.
And the pagans became furious; and Your wrath has come and the time to judge the dead and to give retribution to Your servants, the prophets and saints and those who fear Your name, small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.
And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple; and there were lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and great hail.

(Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse) 8-11)

In the lower part of the fresco, Charon, the ferryman across the hellish river, ferociously expels those condemned to eternal torment from his boat into hell with blows of the oar. Devils in a joyful frenzy drag the naked bodies of the proud, heretics, traitors... men and women throw themselves into a bottomless abyss.

The center of the composition is the figure of Jesus Christ, the only one stable and not susceptible to the whirlwind of movement of the characters.

Christ Himself is not a merciful redeemer, but a punishing Master. The Judge's gesture sets into motion a slow but inexorable circular movement that draws into its flow the ranks of the righteous and the sinners. The Mother of God, sitting next to Christ, turned away from what was happening. She abandons her traditional role as intercessor and listens with trepidation to the final verdict.

All the years spent working on this painting, Michelangelo lived in solitude, only occasionally enjoying the company of a few friends. Despite the patronage of the Pope, and perhaps precisely as a result of this, misunderstanding, envy and anger haunted the artist. There were many critics who declared Michelangelo's creation obscene. When Pope Paul IV suggested that he put the painting “in order,” that is, “cover up the shameful parts,” the master replied: “Tell dad that this is a trivial matter... Let him, in the meantime, put order in the world, but you can put order in painting quickly...” Nevertheless, the Council of Trent decided to cover the nakedness of the figures with draperies. According to Vasari, Pope Paul IV in the 1550s. was going to knock down the fresco. But instead, in 1565, a year after the death of Michelangelo, the artist Daniele da Volterra was commissioned to “dress” the saints or cover their nakedness with loincloths, and Volterra received the nickname “undercoat”, with which his name remained associated forever. These records were partially removed during the restoration, which ended in 1993.

Michelangelo was disappointed. He failed to create a coherent scene. The figures and groups look disconnected from each other, there is no unity between them. But the artist managed to express something else - the great drama of all humanity, the disappointment and despair of an individual person.
Note: Most grave sin- “despair”. This sin degrades the all-holy Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, rejects His omnipotence, rejects the salvation He gave - it shows that arrogance and pride previously dominated in the soul, that faith and humility were alien to it. More than from all other sins, one must be guarded, as from a deadly poison, as from a fierce beast, from despair. I repeat: despair is the worst sin among all sins. (STAINED IGNATIUS (BRYANCHANINOV)

It is no coincidence that Michelangelo placed St. Bartholomew at the feet of Christ. In his left hand the saint holds the skin that was flayed alive from him by the persecutors of the first Christians. By giving the face distorted by suffering, which is depicted on the flayed skin, his own features, Michelangelo captured the unbearable mental anguish that he experienced while creating his great creation.

Michelangelo's fame exceeded any expectations. Immediately after the consecration of the Last Judgment fresco, pilgrims from all over Italy and even from abroad rushed to the Sistine Chapel. “And this in our art serves as an example of great painting, sent down by the earthly God, so that they could see how fate guides minds of a higher order who descended to earth, absorbing grace and divine wisdom” (Vasari).

On the last day of October 1541, the senior clergy and invited laity gathered in the Sistine Chapel to attend the unveiling of a new fresco on the altar wall. The intense anticipation and shock of what he saw were so great, and the general nervous excitement so charged the atmosphere that the pope (already Paul III Farnese) fell to his knees in front of the fresco with reverent horror, begging God not to remember his sins on the day of the Last Judgment.

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