The Last Judgment by Michelangelo: description of the picture, photo

Fresco "Last Judgment" by Michelangelo Buonarroti is one of the greatest works of all time. She still adorns the altar wall today in the Sistine Chapel. Created by Michelangelo "Last Judgment" - a description and illustration is not just a religious plot, but a catastrophe of universal scale. For his interpretation of the Holy Scripture, the artist was honored and condemned at the same time both during his lifetime and during the next few centuries.

The Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) lived long enough even by modern standards. During this time he created many brilliant works. The great sculptor and artist in the Sistine Chapel worked twice. The first time, from 1508 to 1512, he worked on the ceiling murals commissioned by Pope Julius II. Written Michelangelo biblical stories from the creation of the world to the flood, adorn the vault of the chapel, represent one of the most famous works of the author.

The next time the master was here much later. "The Last Judgment" created by Michelangelo from 1534 to 1541, when he was already an elderly man. Karina reflected not so much the traditional understanding of the plot, as the author's reconsideration of a man with his fears and hopes and his complete subordination to fate.

Fresco was ordered to the master originally by Pope Clement VII, who died during the preparatory work for the painting. He was replaced by Paul III, like his predecessor, who wished to perpetuate his name in history with the help of the great work created by Michelangelo. I must say that he was quite successful. The Sistine Chapel is today considered the best container of the Renaissance masterpieces, and with the name of Michelangelo in its halls often sound the names of its customers.

Deviation from the canon

Written by Michelangelo Buonarroti "Last Judgment" - a description of the biblical finale of human history, very different from the usual medieval pictorial images. Christ is depicted at the moment of division of people into righteous and sinful people. He is like not a forgiving God, but an inexorable punisher, a mighty formidable Zeus. He embodies not hope and salvation, but a law and a reward. This is the only static figure that is the center of the picture. The other characters depicted create a cycle. The illusion of movement arises whenever one looks intently at the center of the fresco.

However, the highlight in the work of the great master was the nakedness of all figures, including Christ. The chief judge, angels, sinners and saints - all were depicted nude, endowed with clearly traced bodies. Through the elaboration of the poses, Michelangelo achieved an extraordinary expressiveness of the picture. And it was these two moments, the naked bodies and the view of the Last Judgment in the form of a catastrophe, that aroused most criticism among the master's contemporaries and in subsequent epochs.

Michelangelo "The Last Judgment": description of the painting

The composition is divided into several parts. In the center is the figure of Jesus Christ. His hand is lifted in a punishing gesture, the menacing face is turned towards the sinners. Next to Christ the Virgin Mary, she turned away in confusion. Madonna can not interfere in the court, but to reject the selfless love for all of humanity is also not able.

The central figures are surrounded by two rows of bodies. In the first, near, are prophets and apostles. The second circle is formed by the bodies of sinners falling and being dragged by demons into the abyss of hell, and the ascended righteous.

At the bottom of the fresco there are seven angels who proclaim the coming of the Last Day. Under them, the graves are opened, the dead are given bodies again, Charon drives the sinners from the boat to the infernal abysses.

First Circle

Among the saints surrounding Christ, many figures are well recognizable. There are apostles with instruments of torture in their hands. The holy martyrs are depicted with objects that led to their suffering and death. This is the holy. Sebastian with arrows, St. Lavrenty, holding the grate on which it was burned, St. Bartholomew with a knife. Some researchers see in a distorted face on the tattered skin that the martyr holds in the second hand, the self-portrait of Michelangelo.

However, many figures in this circle remain unrecognized due to the absence of characteristic details that would help them identify them.

Round two

"The Last Judgment" of Michelangelo - a picture that produces a pretty strong and even somewhat difficult impression. There is no place for triumph and rejoicing. The joy of the righteous, close to Christ, drowns in a cycle of bodies, where even those who go to heaven seem dumbfounded and frightened. Sinners who call for justice, angels who overthrow the cross and the column (symbols of martyrdom and transient power) in the upper part of the fresco, the righteous who rise to the sky - they are difficult to distinguish from each other, the cycle can sweep away everyone. Only Christ, as the base and core, is able to lead them.

Michelangelo painted on the fresco, in the first place, people with their passions, deeds, fears and hopes. In some figures the contemporaries of the master are well recognizable. Here you can see Pope Paul III and Clement VII, the ceremonial master Biagio da Cesena (he is portrayed in the form of the king of souls Minos with donkey ears) and one of the ardent opponents of the painting Pietro Aretino.

Attacks

The controversy surrounding the fresco erupted immediately after its completion. According to some, it was a great masterpiece. Their opponents said that the master completely inappropriately treated the images of holy men and Jesus himself, writing them naked, desecrated the chapel with such fresco. Michelangelo even tried to blame heresy.

The new Pope Paul IV was one of the opponents of the work. Initially, he intended to completely bring down the mural from the altar wall, but later changed his mind. He demanded to write clothes and draperies that would hide the nakedness of the characters of the picture, which was done. Later this instruction will be given several more times. During such improvements, the fresco suffered in terms of visual integrity. In the process of restoration in the last century it was decided to wash away all the later sketches and leave only the records of the 16th century to reflect the spirit and contradictoriness of the era.

"The Last Judgment" by Michelangelo and today, to the depths of his soul, amazes all visitors of the Sistine Chapel. He occupies a significant place in both the religious and artistic world. Despite numerous attempts to refine it, to remove or "refine", the masterpiece still conveys the power of thought of the great Michelangelo. "The Last Judgment", a photo of which is on many art criticism resources, rightfully considers one of the symbols of the Renaissance.