The Judgement by Michaelangelo

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INTRODUCTION The Last Judgment by Michelangelo Sistine Chapel altar wall in Vatican City About 25 years later after completing the biblical scenes on the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, he is asked by Pope Clement VII to paint a fresco onto the alter wall, which was completed in 1541. Pope Clement VII was fascinated by the works of Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, so he destroyed the fresco originally on the alter wall for Michelangelo’s work of art. THESIS Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment is representative of Renaissance art because of clear characteristics from that period, including its themes of humanist influence (second coming of Christ, where Christ returns to judge us all), the changing focus of human anatomy (humans become godlike) and a particular perspective (math and reference to Pope studying heliocentric theory by Copernicus) all of which have helped to define that period. PARAGRAPH I: THEMES Second coming of Christ represented by a human view, so a medieval Christian theme. Characteristic of Renaissance was that not only humans were portrayed with incredible male physiques and Jesus is portrayed as a greek bodybuilder and resembles the Greek sun god Apollo, but shows also that Jesus and the rest of the people are same size, not like medieval paintings. Influences of the time were represented in this fresco, such as Dante’s character in his epic poem Divine Comedy: Charon, the greek ferryman of river Styx in hell. Dante also describes in his epic poem the greek judge of the underworld: Minos, which is painted by Michelangelo as the Pope’s Master of Ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena, for criticizing Michelangelo’s fresco due to nudity in holy place. PARAGRAPH II: ANATOMY With the revival of classic ideas, the study of anatomy was brought up as well. Michelangelo depicts human
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