Joyce - Vatican

Our guide, Federico, prepared us well for the Vatican museum and particularly for viewing the Sistine Chapel. He was like a college professor in the number of details and various historic facts but dished it out with great humor. What I particularly liked was his descriptions of the artists, popes and their relationships with one another. After hearing him talk we got an idea of what Michelangelo, the man, was like.  When he was asked to do the Sistine Chapel he was not interested.  As a sculptor and architect, he felt that "decorative painting" was beneath him. When you see the fresco you can see that he was obviously the right man for the job because their is no visual distortion on the curved space and he added his own architectural details to look like carved stonework.  Michelangelo, like many other artists, including Da Vinci, dissected human bodies, so they could do a better job getting it right.  What I learned is that in the iconic area where the hand if God touches and gives life to man, that the background (where God is floating) is the exact shape of a human brain.  So philosophically Michelangelo is saying that the mind of God is touching the mind of humans...or make your own interpretation.

  

The other thing that I thought was interesting is that Michelangelo sought the perfection of Greek statues in his work..such as David...or as our guide, Martin, likes to call him, "Dave, the nude dude." The Pieta is so lovely, found in St. Peters Basilica at the Vatican. Michelangelo's overheard some people admiring his work but mistakenly attributed it to someone from a different city.  He was a proud Florentine and also had a big ego.  So he sneaked into the cathedral at night and carved his name on Mary's sash with the words "Michelangelo Florintine" or Florintino, I can't remember exactly, but you get the idea!