On Friday, February 10, our schedule included
a tour of the Vatican Museums. We met our guide, Liz Lev at the main entrance
of the Vatican Museums (Plural, because there about a dozen museums at the
Vatican.) I have visited these museums on several occasions but I have never
experienced them like I did today.
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| Our tour guide with the Dome of St. Peter's in the back. |
The dome is visible rising out of the gardens.
It is one of the few places where the entire dome is visible, including the
drum, that cylindrical portion below the actual curved dome which is hidden
from view in St. Peter's square because of the extension forward of the nave by
200%. For Michelangelo who always thought in terms of the human form, even in
architecture, saw his dome as the head rising above the shoulders of the
basilica. In the basilica are the statues of the saints, depictions of the
human elements of the church, and burial vaults of all those awaiting the
resurrection. In the dome are the angels, the blue sky, and the light radiating
down to enlighten the world in its quest to reach that eternal life promised by
the God incarnate.
Liz began by explaining to us what this art
would have meant to the ancient people through modern times. This art and these
images would have had an impact on them not unlike the impact of television,
cinema, and now the internet has in our culture. Art was information,
education, political propaganda, news, and it defined social structures and
order. It was not exclusive, because most of it was public. It was on display
in public buildings and open spaces, on facades of buildings. There were
private collections, but for the most part, art was accessible to the average
person who would have been moved, excited, terrified, warned, and would have
learned religion, culture, and stories of one's world. It is difficult for us
to comprehend how much impact a single piece of art would have because we are
inundated with images and media every day. We take it for granted. But a new
work of art could take decades and people would wait expectantly for an
unveiling, and if it was good art, it would move them and change them. A single
work of art could change the course of history. This was the nature of
Christian art particularly. For greats like Michelangelo, it was all about
telling a story of faith.
After visiting the pre-Christian Museum, we
get a chance to visit the early Christian Museum. The earliest Christian art is
mostly in the catacombs, wall frescoes, burial plaques, and especially the
sarcophagi. These relics tell us that there were very wealthy early Christians
buried alongside the poor who did not have the elaborate tombs. The first
Christian art was in the form of symbols - fish, ship, lamp, the acronym in
Greek spelling the Name of Christ. These symbols told stories. But later the
carvings in the catacombs and the sarcophagi tell the complete story of
salvation. This is the pat of the tour that was totally new for me. It was
curious that there was no evidence of a cross on any of the examples of early
Christian art. The early Christians were horrified by this instrument of
torture and death. Again it was not until the persecutions ended and
Christianity decriminalized that the cross began to take on a new meaning for
the church. Then, Christian art would begin to evolve. We need to remember that
until 321AD when it was still a capital offense to be a Christian, most
Christian art was funerary. After the legalization of Christianity, the art
begins to change dramatically to include images of salvation which were huge by
comparison. Now Christian art could be displayed publicly and the scale begins
to grow dramatically.
Art work on tomb
| You have
to read the two levels simultaneously. It is the entire story of salvation.
In the upper left hand is the depiction of the Trinity. (and remember, this
is 220 years before the council of the church which defined the Trinity in
our creed.) The three figures to the upper left are the Spirit, Father, and
Son. The Son's hands are on two children, representing creation. Next three
figures are Adam and Eve, with God between them instructing them not to take
from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent and the tree are
visible next to Eve. On the lower level is Joseph, barely visible behind seated
Mary, holding the infant Jesus. Coming to them are the wise men. The first
one is pointing not to 1 star, but 3 stars, not visible in this photo. Each
star is directly below one of the persons of the Trinity. These are the wise
and learned people who are seeking the truth in this child and the Trinity.
The naked figure in the lower center is Daniel coming out of the lion's den.
This is a powerful figure for these early Christians, many of whom had seen
their fellow Christians thrown to the lions themselves. Survival from the
lions was a powerful force and a sign of hope in the faith life of these
early Christians. Next to the scene of Daniel, are scenes of stories in
Jesus' life: Jesus welcomes the child, on the upper level, the miracle at
Cana, and below, the denial of Peter, (see the rooster on the ground), and
Jesus' arrest. Remember many early Christians were being arrested as Jesus
was. This was seen as a sharing in the suffering of Jesus that would win them
the crown in heaven. The large medalion in the center is probably the images
of the couple who were buried in this tomb. |
One of the favorite stories of the
early Christians in Jonah. It was understood as a prefiguration of the passion,
death, and resurrection of Jesus. It was stories like this one that gave the
early christians hope in the resurrection, not the cross as we know it today.
The following sarcophagus is a magnificent telling of the Jonah story for this
person buried in the hope of rising again. I decided to photograph it in three
sections. It will be clearer to view and there are actually three scenes
depicted here.
Jonah is thrown overboard because he tells the
crew he is running away from his God. They blame him for the storm that
threatens to destroy them all. The head of the fish is ready to swallow him.
Jonah is lying under the fig tree whitch
eventually withers and forces him to do as God asks of him. In the sand, you
can see a crab, and a snail on the beach. Also there are two scenes; one of a
man and boy fishing, and a shepherd with his flock to serve as a precursor to
Jesus' ministry and his call to his disciples as shepehrds and fishers of men.
What you ought to do, as I try to recall some of her descriptions of the ceiling and the last judgment, is to Google an image of the Sistine Chapel to try to understand it.
Michelangelo was not trained as a painter, he was a sculptor. He thought in three dimensions. He thought always the human body. He was fascinated by what he considered to be the epitome of God's creation. And unlike what many think that his obsession with the human figure was some kind of "Freudian thing", as Liz called it, Michelangelo believed that portraying the human body was to glorify God. His figures in both the ceiling and in the Last Judgment are sculptural in vision and in form. The ceiling tells a story. This is a first in the history of art. Until now, ceilings were to finish a room, blue sky, stars, and an occasional medallion in the center, or corners, surrounded by architectural shapes as frames. No one had ever attempted to tell a story on the ceiling. The original commission was to paint portraits of the 12 apostles. Michelangelo came back with another proposal - to tell the story of Creation in Genesis. He was able to convince the pope that he could do it. Oh by the way, Michelangelo did not paint the ceiling lying on his back; he stood through the whole thing. He wrote a sonnet describing his technique, and even supplied a drawing of himself doing the work while standing.
The days of creation begin with God being an almost opaque figure, as he creates the light, the sun, stars, and separates the sea from the land. Now as he creates the man, God is seen in full detail. In the very center of the room is the fall from grace. The scenes continue through the prophets who would foretell the coming mystery of the incarnation. These all come down the center axis of the room. Then is the story of Noah, Abraham and Isaac. The prophet Zechariah, who tells of the God who will enter our life once and for all, sends the eye back towards the front of the room with the prophets and the gentile sibyls until we come to the last of the prophets portrayed - our friend Jonah again.
This leads our eyes back to the Last Judgment. In this masterpiece, there is virtually no landscape, no architecture, no animals, only 421 human bodies engaged in the struggle towards salvation, and some to eternal damnation.
I have seen the before and after of the 10 year restoration of this chapel. The stories that have come from the new view of this work are remarkable. Liz mentioned one today. In the center of the image, there are two figures being pulled up into heaven as they are grasping on to a rosary. It was always thought before the restoration that these figures are a male and female. As it turns out, they are men, one white, and the other black. We are talking mid 16th century when slavery was just getting into high gear in the Americas. Another detail, is St. Bartholomew who was martyred by being skinned alive, is holding his skin. But Michelangelo put a caricature of his own face on the skin. Also, one of the Vatican Cardinals hated this work and demanded that it be covered over and repainted. Michelangelo painted his face on the person at the lowest point in hell at the lower right hand corner. He added donkey ears for special effect. The pope must have really disliked this cardinal because he declared that it should stay.
I don't have the space, the time, or frankly the memory to tell you more of these stories. I'm sure I'll think of them as I go on. I just think this one is significant enough to give you a good idea of not just the Michelangelo’s genius, but of his spiritual and social consciousness, his humility and his sense of humor.
