http://domusportafidei.org/2013/07/12/the-feminine-heart/ Michelangelo Buonarotti | Creation of Adam, 1510
THE CREATION OF ADAM
The Creation of Adam is regarded as one of the world’s most eminent and iconic artworks of all time. The fresco painting lies in the centre of Michelangelo Buonarotti’s astounding Sistine Chapel ceiling paintings within the Vatican, recognized as an epitome of the High Renaissance artistic period, and an enduring symbol for humanity.
This most renowned fresco is a beguiling and majestic depiction of God creating Adam, the first human being. On the left of the scene is Adam, a chiseled, languid, ignudo man sluggishly recumbent upon a sloping green hillside. His arm outstretches right to the centre void where his index finger lingers to meet the almighty, life imparting extended finger of God. It is this focal point of the scene, the anticipation of the extraordinary moment of contact between the earthbound man and the suspended Supreme Being separated by mere centimeters that evokes a captivating tension that has helped establish this work as a masterpiece. God, positioned on the right reaching left out to Adam is depicted as a dominant, older bearded man in a pale robe, intensely focused on the spark of life he is endowing to Adam. He is surrounded by an angelic entourage in a swirling red mass resembling an organ such as a human brain, uterus or heart. This perhaps emphasizes the wisdom, love and knowledge being bestowed upon the man he is creating in his own image. Further, tucked away in God’s embrace is a stunning young woman closely engaged in the unfolding events. From this lively gaze directed down to Adam, it has been assumed this woman’s destiny must be inextricably linked to his. She is believed to be Eve, God’s next conception and Adam’s wife, or Mary, the mother of Christ. Both Adam and God bear a likeness to the Ancient Greek gods Apollo and Zeus, perhaps as a result of the Renaissance rediscovery and fascination of the period that was avidly studied at the time. The figures are also extremely detailed and well modeled, portraying perfect human bodies and enhanced lighting and shadowing through Michelangelo’s skill of sculpture and outstanding understanding of anatomy, among the many abilities that made him the true Renaissance Man and the greatest living artist in his lifetime.
The Creation of Adam is located in the midst of The Sistine Chapel’s Genesis Cycle in the second triad directly in the centre of the ceiling. It follows the first triad’s Genesis stories of God dividing light from darkness, God creating the sun and the planets, and God dividing the water from the Earth, and is succeeded by God creating Eve, the couple’s temptation and banishment, and the third triad’s narratives of Noah. In all, the ceiling features the ancestors of Jesus, the Genesis stories of Noah, the creation and downfall of Adam and Eve and The Creation, shields, and Prophets and Sibyls within manipulated and fictive architecture. Each scene is painted with precision and meticulous care, displaying an incredible knowledge of anatomy and the human form in a realist approach to every single one of the 343 figures. Curiously, the ceiling was never intended to be this elaborate and intricate. In 1508, the imperious and demanding “warrior pope” Julius || commissioned Michelangelo to replace the old blue ceiling dotted in constellation like stars with a geometric ornament with the twelve apostles in surrounding spandrels. However, the artist instead proposed to paint Old Testament scenes divided by fake architecture to organise the composition, creating a much grander and complex scheme. After much negotiation, Michelangelo was finally permitted in his own words, “to do as I liked”. However, if Michelangelo had done what he truly would have liked, he may never have painted the ceiling at all. When Pope Julius || appointed Michelangelo to paint the ceiling, he was under the belief that he was employing the most prodigious and gifted artist in Renaissance Italy. Yet the man he hired was a sculptor, an artist who had never even attempted a fresco before. At the time, Michelangelo persisted that the Pope had been convinced by his rivals to commission him for the work to give him an opportunity to fail on the grandest scale possible and in the most embarrassing way. Due to his prominence and rise to fame during the High Renaissance, the artistic community devised the plan to discredit and degrade the young artist, a sculptor, not a painter. They believed that he would inevitably fail or at the very least, become embroiled in a time consuming effort that would remove him from the competition for years. But Julius was adamant in his decision, and forced the reluctant artist who was already working on his own papal tombs to paint twelve thousand square feet of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the renowned meeting place for the Catholic Church’s most distinguished clergy.
Michelangelo worked arduously for four years to complete the ceiling, before finally finishing in October 1512. The artist worked exclusively in buon fresco, painting efficiently straight onto freshly laid plaster to each section of his ceiling scenes upon wooden scaffolds that allowed him to stand upright and reach above his head, rather than lying down as many misconceived. It is thought that The Creation of Adamwas painted in solely four days. Today, the painting remains one of the worlds most stirring, dramatic, beguiling images of all time, continuing to inspire, be studied, appropriated, and loved by the millions of visiting patrons each year. Whilst God has created Adam to begin humankind, Michelangelo created a spark of enthrallment and adoration that has prevailed over 500 years, and still will into the future.
This most renowned fresco is a beguiling and majestic depiction of God creating Adam, the first human being. On the left of the scene is Adam, a chiseled, languid, ignudo man sluggishly recumbent upon a sloping green hillside. His arm outstretches right to the centre void where his index finger lingers to meet the almighty, life imparting extended finger of God. It is this focal point of the scene, the anticipation of the extraordinary moment of contact between the earthbound man and the suspended Supreme Being separated by mere centimeters that evokes a captivating tension that has helped establish this work as a masterpiece. God, positioned on the right reaching left out to Adam is depicted as a dominant, older bearded man in a pale robe, intensely focused on the spark of life he is endowing to Adam. He is surrounded by an angelic entourage in a swirling red mass resembling an organ such as a human brain, uterus or heart. This perhaps emphasizes the wisdom, love and knowledge being bestowed upon the man he is creating in his own image. Further, tucked away in God’s embrace is a stunning young woman closely engaged in the unfolding events. From this lively gaze directed down to Adam, it has been assumed this woman’s destiny must be inextricably linked to his. She is believed to be Eve, God’s next conception and Adam’s wife, or Mary, the mother of Christ. Both Adam and God bear a likeness to the Ancient Greek gods Apollo and Zeus, perhaps as a result of the Renaissance rediscovery and fascination of the period that was avidly studied at the time. The figures are also extremely detailed and well modeled, portraying perfect human bodies and enhanced lighting and shadowing through Michelangelo’s skill of sculpture and outstanding understanding of anatomy, among the many abilities that made him the true Renaissance Man and the greatest living artist in his lifetime.
The Creation of Adam is located in the midst of The Sistine Chapel’s Genesis Cycle in the second triad directly in the centre of the ceiling. It follows the first triad’s Genesis stories of God dividing light from darkness, God creating the sun and the planets, and God dividing the water from the Earth, and is succeeded by God creating Eve, the couple’s temptation and banishment, and the third triad’s narratives of Noah. In all, the ceiling features the ancestors of Jesus, the Genesis stories of Noah, the creation and downfall of Adam and Eve and The Creation, shields, and Prophets and Sibyls within manipulated and fictive architecture. Each scene is painted with precision and meticulous care, displaying an incredible knowledge of anatomy and the human form in a realist approach to every single one of the 343 figures. Curiously, the ceiling was never intended to be this elaborate and intricate. In 1508, the imperious and demanding “warrior pope” Julius || commissioned Michelangelo to replace the old blue ceiling dotted in constellation like stars with a geometric ornament with the twelve apostles in surrounding spandrels. However, the artist instead proposed to paint Old Testament scenes divided by fake architecture to organise the composition, creating a much grander and complex scheme. After much negotiation, Michelangelo was finally permitted in his own words, “to do as I liked”. However, if Michelangelo had done what he truly would have liked, he may never have painted the ceiling at all. When Pope Julius || appointed Michelangelo to paint the ceiling, he was under the belief that he was employing the most prodigious and gifted artist in Renaissance Italy. Yet the man he hired was a sculptor, an artist who had never even attempted a fresco before. At the time, Michelangelo persisted that the Pope had been convinced by his rivals to commission him for the work to give him an opportunity to fail on the grandest scale possible and in the most embarrassing way. Due to his prominence and rise to fame during the High Renaissance, the artistic community devised the plan to discredit and degrade the young artist, a sculptor, not a painter. They believed that he would inevitably fail or at the very least, become embroiled in a time consuming effort that would remove him from the competition for years. But Julius was adamant in his decision, and forced the reluctant artist who was already working on his own papal tombs to paint twelve thousand square feet of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the renowned meeting place for the Catholic Church’s most distinguished clergy.
Michelangelo worked arduously for four years to complete the ceiling, before finally finishing in October 1512. The artist worked exclusively in buon fresco, painting efficiently straight onto freshly laid plaster to each section of his ceiling scenes upon wooden scaffolds that allowed him to stand upright and reach above his head, rather than lying down as many misconceived. It is thought that The Creation of Adamwas painted in solely four days. Today, the painting remains one of the worlds most stirring, dramatic, beguiling images of all time, continuing to inspire, be studied, appropriated, and loved by the millions of visiting patrons each year. Whilst God has created Adam to begin humankind, Michelangelo created a spark of enthrallment and adoration that has prevailed over 500 years, and still will into the future.