Even though the Sistine Chapel was named after the Pope who commissioned its construction, Pope Sixtus IV, the real fame of the chapel came to it much later when Pope Julius II commissioned an artist by the name of Michelangelo to take on the job of putting a painting on the 10,000 foot Sistine Chapel ceiling.
But there is a lot to learn about this beautiful building that you can enjoy during your visit to Rome and Vatican City. For example, the chapel is not far from the Vatican Museum, which is an attraction entirely worth taking a day or more to see what it has to offer. Also the famous St. Peter’s Basilica is walking distance from the Sistine Chapel, and there you can enjoy another magnificent Michelangelo creation “The Pieta,” and you can also admire the dome of the Basilica, which is a masterpiece of architecture in and of itself.
The actual Sistine Chapel is relatively small by Roman building standards, at 135 feet wide by 44 feet tall. But inside of this small chapel is some of the greatest art of the western world. Art that any museum in the world would be thrilled to have. A huge restoration project done on the chapel between 1979 and 1999 assured that this treasure would be here for us to enjoy for decades to come.
In addition to Michelangelo, many renowned artists are on display in the Sistine Chapel. Botticelli’s art works are on display there including his well known “The Punishment of Korah” and the 1482 “Life of Moses”. But a few steps away, you can also view works by true masters of the Renaissance period such as Ghirlandaio, Perugino and Rosselli.
But it is that magnificent ceiling that will hold your eyes for as long as you can look up. When the Pope commissioned Michelangelo to do this work, all that was there was a bland display of painted stars. It took Michelangelo four long and hard years of intense labor to complete his masterpiece. But the outcome is stunning, as he transformed that ceiling into a magnificent nine-panel master art work that is beyond compare.
Michelangelo used as subjects for his painting many stories and characters from the Old Testament of the Hebrew and Christian Bible. The panels seem to burst with life with pictures of Sibyls, the prophets, various nude males and Noah. But there is no question that the image that is the most moving is that of Jehovah himself, reaching to mankind in the form of Adam to give life to his creation through the touch of a finger.
The restoration that was done in the late 20th century brought back the stunning colors that most consider to be the work of one of the finest painters ever known. The writer Goethe described the ceiling beautifully when he wrote:
“Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving.”
To accomplish this amazing task of painting the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo had to design a new kind of scaffold to accommodate his needs. The paint nearly blinded him as he labored tirelessly on the project. And he had to use his impressive abilities to devise new innovations to get the job done, including a new kind of plaster which became known as intonaco. This new plaster resists mold and holds paint in place well which was crucial to the success of the Sistine Chapel. Intonaco is a plaster that is still very useful in modern building projects.
The bulk of the work on the Sistine Chapel was done by 1512. But Michelangelo had more to share so he returned to the site twenty years later and he created The Last Judgment between 1535 and 1541. So be sure you bring your eyes down from the ceiling to take in this second masterpiece inside the chapel that covers the wall behind the alter of the church.
An engrossing and yet controversial part of the painting is a rendering of St. Bartholomew, which is a self portrait that shows the saint’s skin being flayed. This drew a lot of criticism from people in high places as did his frequent use of nudes in all of his artwork. Michelangelo was such a force in the Italian artistic world that he won the fight to keep his artwork as he created it but sadly much later the paintings were marred when the genitals of the nudes was painted over.
Art lovers or just curious tourists alike cannot possibly stand in the presence of such greatness and not be moved. So as you plan your trip to Rome, you would be remiss if you did not allow some time to visit the Sistine Chapel and take in the artistic masterpieces you will find there.
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