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| michelangelo.com |
I've been studying a richly illustrated book on the refurbished Sistine Chapel. It's entitled
The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration, by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers. It not only documents the cleaning of the ceiling, but it also provides loads of information on the whole history of the original project.
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| muohio.edu |
Before Michelangelo painted the ceiling, it looked like this, with a flat blue color and an arrangement of stars. You can see clearly in this engraving that the structure of the ceiling is vaulted, which of course means that all the surfaces curve inward.
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| The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration |
Michelangelo wanted his images to be read as though they were on a flat surface, so he distorted the perspective of the painted architectural elements. With painted columns and an inner "crown moulding," he reconfigured the ceiling so that it would be viewed thusly:
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| click to enlarge | wga.hu |
If you click to enlarge, an interesting thing to note is that Michelangelo worked from the back of the chapel towards the front and altar (or from left to right in this photo) — and as he did so, his figures became much larger. It's believed that Michelangelo did this so that the viewer's first impression would be that all the figures were the same size.
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| Jonah, before and after restoration | The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration |
The posture of Jonah (it's a good guess that Michelangelo never saw a whale) masterfully completes the illusion of flatness. By having Jonah lean backwards, Michelangelo denied the curvature of the ceiling and convinces us that the niche is a flat surface.
Another note of interest about the Sistine Chapel ceiling is that, according to some sources, Michelangelo had never before painted a fresco. He delayed the project until artists from Florence arrived in Rome to teach him the method of painting on wet plaster.
We should all have such first efforts!
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