Sistine Chapel

Kind of a dull little place, no?

What is the Sistine Chapel? A small chapel in the Pope’s official residence (in Vatican City) In history, it was used as a chapel: a place for religious ceremony Now, it’s the place where the bishops meet to select a new Pope

So why is it so famous now? The frescos, painted by Michelangelo, are the reason that this chapel is so well known. Called the Sistine Chapel after Pope Sixtus IV who had some famous people paint the inside. Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the ceilings He painted between 1508-1512 (ouch, that’s a long time!) He came back under a different Pope to paint The Last Judgement behind the alter (another long time, 1536-1541)

Let’s look at a few of the paintings You and a partner will be assigned one of these paintings to learn more about. You will tell What the painting depicts (what story) What details are in the painting (they are all very intricate) Why it was chosen to be painted on the ceiling You will do a virtual tour and try to find your painting in the chapel

Example The Drunkenness of Noah Noah as planting a vineyard and as drinking the wine and being found by his three sons It shows how his sons became powerful and started a new line of people after a flood that killed everyone Important to have on the ceiling for Christians to remember the story of what happened AFTER Noah Noah is in red as well as in front

The Last Judgment

The Separation of Light from Darkness

The Creation of Eve

The Fall of Man and the Expulsion from Paradise

The Story of Noah

The Flood

Secret Images – Can you find them? In 1990, some physicians suggested that the flying-seat shape and figure of God in "The Creation of Adam" makes up an anatomically correct image of the human brain. In 2010, it was asserted that "The Separation of Light From Darkness" panel contains a human brain stem. Other theorists have suggested that Michelangelo depicted kidney imagery on the ceiling.  As a sculptor, Michelangelo was fascinated by the human form. He studied cadavers to get a better sense of anatomy, and would have been familiar with the human brain. Painting the Sistine Chapel was an exhausting task, and Michelangelo’s relationship with the Catholic Church became strained doing it. Perhaps to depict his unhappiness, he hid two miserable-looking self-portraits in "The Last Judgment."He painted his deceased face on Holofernes’ severed head and his ghoulish visage on Saint Bartholomew’s flayed skin.