Research project: "Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling"

            There was an untrue story that according to Ross King stated that, “Bramante had persuaded the pope to abandon the project by warning him that it was bad luck to have one’s tomb carved during one’s lifetime, and had then proposed an altogether different commission.” (page 11).  However it was later realized that this was not the truth.  The reality was that the Bramante told the pope “I believe he does not have enough courage and spirit for it, because he has done too many figures and, above all, the figures are high an in foreshortening, and this is another thing from painting ground level”.  It seemed at though Bramante did not want Michelangelo to succeed at all. 

            One reason why Bramante was not on Michelangelo’s side was because he believed that Michelangelo did not know how to use the technique of di sotto in su, which is basically foreshortening in that the figures appear to be standing above so that the perspective is right on.  However, when Bramante saw that Michelangelo was actually good at painting, and received praise for his work, he attempted to have the commission taken from him and given to Rafael of Urbino instead.  It seems to me as though Bramante was extremely jealous as well as threatened by Michelangelo’s talent and success.  He tried to diminish it in many different circumstances. 

            There was a thriving competition between Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci.  They were competing for work on frescos in the Palazzo della Signoria.  Michelangelo did a cartoon for the Battle of Cascina, and Leonardo did a scene of the Battle of Anghiari.  This scene that Leonardo painted was of a battle that took place in 1440 when the Florentine Republic initiated a war with the Milanese army.  It wasn’t that large of a battle, but Florence ended up winning the battle.  Although it was small, it was an important moment in history because the end result made it so that central Italy would be run by the Florentines.

In 1505 Michelangelo was summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II to work on the tomb.  Both of the incomplete paintings by Michelangelo and Leonardo were hung in the Council Hall until 1512.