Lecture 22: The High Renaissance—Michelangelo
Figures of the prophets and sibyls À ank the main scenes from Genesis. These
¿ gures are much larger than the Nudes, but they are also painted as if they
were real ¿ gures, with natural À esh colors and modeled in three dimensions.
They are ¿ gures of great signi¿ cance, hence, the increase in size over the
decorative Nudes.The Libyan Sibyl represents the pagan women gifted with prophetic powers,
whose writings were thought to have foretold the coming of Christ. Her
body spirals as she turns, pirouetting on her toes so that her legs and hips are
parallel to the picture plane, while her torso and arms continue the rotation
into the space behind her. She deposits the book of her writings, while her
head remains in pro¿ le. Her gaze is toward the papal altar on the À oor below.
Note the width, like a wingspread, of her book. The ¿ gure rises from a
narrow base to a broad cap, and this shape, combined with her spiral, results
in an inversion of the Renaissance pyramid.Jeremiah is a signi¿ cant ¿ gure among the prophets and sibyls. He wrote that
oppression and suffering must precede salvation. His body droops under the
weight of his sorrow, the destruction of Jerusalem. Michelangelo depicts one
side of Jeremiah’s body in shadow, while the other side is darkly outlined.
The bulk of his body and the fall of his beard pull him downward, while
his legs, crossed at the ankles, deprive him of support. This scene is placed
directly above the papal throne. Jeremiah’s sorrow is the pope’s sorrow, and
viewed against the contemporary background of the continuing attempt to
drive the French from Italy, it had special relevance.Michelangelo drew on the book of Genesis to portray the Creation of Adam.
God, surrounded by angels and a great cloak, enters from the right. The
force of the wind is seen in the drapery and his hair. He extends his right
arm, and his fore¿ nger approaches another. Adam lies on a barren Earth,
his body completely within the contour of the sloping ground except for his
left forearm with its drooping hand and fore¿ nger. There is no energy in
Adam. The line of his leg and torso is still bound to Earth, his torso hardly
supported by his right arm. His head does have a spark of life; his gaze is
locked with God’s, and that force pulls his head forward from his torpid
body. The distance between God’s ¿ ngertip and Adam’s is very short yet