Michelangelo's Secret Message in the Sistine Chapel

[WhiteTara]

Very interesting article, but this was the part that I like the most
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-douglas-fields/michelangelos-secret-mess_b_586531.html

Dr. Douglas Fields
Chief of the Nervous System Development and Plasticity Section, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Posted: May 26, 2010 09:40 AM


snip

It is no secret that Michelangelo's relationship with the Catholic Church became strained. The artist
was a simple man, but he grew to detest the opulence and corruption of the Church. In two places in the masterpiece, Michelangelo left self portraits -- both of them depicting himself in torture. He gave his own face to Saint Bartholomew's body martyred by being skinned alive, and to the severed head of Holofernes, who was seduced and beheaded by Judith.

Michelangelo was a devout person, but later in life he developed a belief in Spiritualism, for which he was condemned by Pope Paul IV. The fundamental tenet of Spiritualism is that the path to God can be found not exclusively through the Church, but through direct communication with God. Pope Paul IV interpreted Michelangelo's Last Judgment, painted on the wall of the Sistine Chapel twenty years after completing the ceiling, as defaming the church by suggesting that Jesus and those around him communicated with God directly without need of Church. He suspended Michelangelo's pension and had fig leaves painted over the nudes in the fresco. According to the artist's wishes, Michelangelo's body is not buried on the grounds of the Vatican, but is instead interred in a tomb in Florence.

Perhaps the meaning in the Sistine Chapel is not of God giving intelligence to Adam, but rather that intelligence and observation -- and the bodily organ that makes them possible -- lead, without the necessity of Church, directly to God. The material is rich for speculation and the new findings will doubtlessly spark endless interpretation. We may never know the truth, but in Separation of Light from Darkness, Michelangelo's masterpiece combines the worlds of art, religion, science, and faith in a provocative and awe inspiring work of art, which may also be a mirror.

[patrick t. cakes]

1. the church ruins all

[midnight]

2. A great message. One having the intelligence and observation to communicate directly to God

was an enormous exercise of independence, especially, if one considers strong hold the church still has on peoples freedoms.

[davidinalameda]

3. I think i read this book

yet another Gnostic plot or something or maybe it was the Knights Templar

[Mari333]

4. of course, he could not have painted a woman recieving divine anything from either end

the church would have had hissy fits.
another reason I left.

but I like the idea of michaelangelo saying we need no intervention with the priests and their hiearchy

[Dr Morbius]

5. One issue: the Sistene Chapel is not Michelangelo's masterpiece.

His masterpiece is St Peter's itself. He designed the whole thing, including the impressive dome. In addition to the ceiling in the chapel, he sculpted - among other masterpieces, and every Michelangelo sculpture is a masterpiece - David, which changed the art itself forever. And then there's the Last Supper, a work of absolute genius in perspective composition.

Michelangelo had many masterpieces. There's a reason he's one of the most famous artists in history, and that reason goes WAY beyond the ceiling of a chapel. Other than that, it's a great article!

[Tansy_Gold]

11. "The Last Supper" of Da Vinci, or Michelangelo's "Last Judgment"? n/t

[Dr Morbius]

16. You got me on the Last Supper.

Point still stands, though.

[xchrom]

6. recommend

[GreenStormCloud]

7. Notice the shape of the cloud that he put God in.

Now the shape of a human brain. Notice a similarity?

[truedelphi]

13. Whoa. I never knew that.

What if God was one of us, or ...

[rug]

14. The shape of Adam's left shin is more interesting.

[rocktivity]

8. Just when you thought it was safe to forget about the DaVinci code

a Michaelangelo code comes along!!!

:eyes:
rocktivity

[LiberalFighter]

9. They were upset that even Jesus communicated directly with god?

If even their Jesus couldn't then how can they possibly?

[no_hypocrisy]

10. The Vatican then must be claiming that Jesus created the Church so he could talk to his father?

[onager]

12. Michelangelo scene in "The Tudors"

Blink and you'll miss it, but it made me ROFL.

The Pope is taking a VIP on a tour of the Sistine Chapel, in the middle of its big paint job.

Michelangelo storms out the door, almost running over the Pope, and screams to his contractors: "Moses looks like a donkey, you assholes!"

[applegrove]

15. Someone told me once that some pope had all the male genitalia

knocked off of statues in the vatican and covered with fig leaves. But because the statues were valuable works of art the genitalia were all kept. So somewhere in the vatican is a room full of penises.LOL!

[onager]

17. It's called the "College of Cardinals."

:hi:

[AlecBGreen]

18. hee hee hee

:spray:

[jeepnstein]

19. When I saw the ceiling for the first time...

all I could think of was that Michelangelo was a true believer. The central panel depicting God and Man is just so striking and contrary to the hierarchy that the Catholic Church has imposed that I'm sure it's a sore point with them every time they assemble there. One just looks up and is hit square in the face with what Michelangelo was saying. He apparently wasn't a man for mincing his words.