In 1508,
Pope Julius II returned to Rome after defeating the French in a battle that had
broken out earlier, and had originally distracted him from his mission of
having Michelangelo paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Upon his return, there was a contract dated
for Michelangelo’s commission of the Sistine chapel ceiling on May 10th,
1508. Cardinal Alidosi wrote this
contract. According to the contract that
was supposedly lost at one point, Michaelangelo was supposed to be paid 3,000
ducats. This is about 30 times the
normal amount that an artist of that time would get paid in one year.
Before
beginning this project, the pope made it clear that he wanted the image of the
Sistine chapel ceiling to be a scene of twelve large figures of the Apostles. Michelangelo wanted a much more breathtaking
scene. He negotiated with Pope Julius
II, and eventually he agreed to let Michelangelo have more of a say on what
would be the content. The final product
of the ceiling was about three hundred figures.
The original 12 apostles requested by Pope Julius II became sibyls and
prophets.
Michelangelo
was not traditionally a painter himself.
During the time of this commission however, he took inspiration from
Jacopo della Quercia. It is evident that
Quercia’s images were on Michelangelo’s mind while he was painting the Sistine
chapel. As for the ceiling itself, the
design was influenced by Hadrian’s Villa, Santa Maria del Popolo, and
Pinturicchio, which was a choir vault by Bramante.
Pinturicchio did paint a chapel in SM del Popolo in Rome. Are you saying Bramante created the vault ceiling?
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting about the original idea proposed by Pope Julius II. My favorite part of the ceiling are the sibyls and prophets.
ReplyDeleteI found this post very interesting. I never considered that the Sistine Chapel ceiling that we know today, wasn't the orginal idea. I have a questions though: Who is Jacopo della Quercia? And why is it eveident that Michelangelo was drawing inspiration from him? Examples?
ReplyDelete