[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Supervisor]

[Subject]

[Date]

The Sistine Chapel

Introduction

The Sistine Chapel was built between 1475-1483 by the architect Giovanni de'dolci by the order of Sixtus IV, who wished to make it very important in the design of architectural forms, almost inaccessible from the outside and fortified. Painted decoration, on which work started already in 1481, has transformed this austere and almost devoid of decorations in the chapel of precious Pinacoteca fifteenth and sixteenth-century Italian Renaissance painting. Sam Pope Sixtus IV commissioned some of the best painters and architects of the era. The parallel execution of murals depicts the history of the Old and New Testaments, meeting in the central zone of the two walls. So the first frescoes represent in a manner parallel to the two side walls, "Life of Moses" (Old Testament), on the other: "The Life of Christ" (New Testament). Almost every painting on one wall is attached and has a counterpart on the opposite wall, as their confrontation is extremely interesting (Pietrangeli, pp. 74-79).

Overview

The Sistine Chapel is still used by the Pope, usually for solemn ceremonies. The chapel is a rectangular (41 x 13 m) brick building trivial from the outside. The part before the altar for the clergy is separated from the part of ordinary believers by transenna: a marble railing. Each of the two long sides has six big arched windows. The hall is 20 m high. The walls consist of three rings: the bottom of tapestries designed by Raphael with scenes from the Gospels and Acts, in the middle frescoes depicting scenes from the lives of Moses and Jesus, and the top, next to the windows, pictures of popes. The depiction of Moses and Jesus was a deliberate choice: they wanted the transition from the laws of Moses to the teachings of Jesus into state that would fit into the continuity of the old and the new covenant. The storylines originally started on the wall behind the altar and came together again above the entrance. The wall and ceiling paintings in the Sistine Chapel are widely regarded as the culmination of the Renaissance. Especially the ceiling and back wall of Michelangelo widely praised. The artworks are arranged in four steps, commissioned by different popes:

1481-1483: even during the pontificate of Sixtus IV (1471-1484) were all decorated walls. Pier Matteo d'Amelia painted a starry sky on the ceiling.

Julius II (1503-1513) hired in 1508 the Florentine master Michelangelo to the ceiling and lunettes above the windows to be painted.

Pope Leo X (1513-1521) in 1515 Raphael gave the command to create designs for a series of wall hangings, to the lower parts of the walls to cover. The dress was ready in 1521.

Michelangelo was in 1536 back to work, this time in command of Pope Paul III (1534-1549) on the wall behind the altar a fresco with the Last Judgement. This masterpiece was finished in 1541.

Architectural Analysis

The Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, situated in Vatican City in Rome. ...