The sistine chapel is where the worldthee entire cosmos, is giving form and spirit. It almost seems to me like a place that julius the second and his successors would be able to come and think and engage with the art work above them as a way of reflecting on their greater purpose. But i think we do see conflict creeping in in practical day to day usage of the chapel - particularly when it comes to conclaves. This is the place where the new popes get elected. They're locked in conclave, meaning with the key, and they have to decide who is going to be the successor. And all that is taking place in this space, too. On
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the astonishing work of Michelangelo (1477-1564) in this great chapel in the Vatican, firstly the ceiling with images from Genesis (of which the image above is a detail) and later The Last Judgement on the altar wall. For the Papacy, Michelangelo's achievement was a bold affirmation of the spiritual and political status of the Vatican, of Rome and of the Catholic Church. For the artist himself, already famous as the sculptor of David in Florence, it was a test of his skill and stamina, and of the potential for art to amaze which he realised in his astonishing mastery of the human form.
With
Catherine Fletcher
Professor of History at Manchester Metropolitan University
Sarah Vowles
The Smirnov Family Curator of Italian and French Prints and Drawings at the British Museum
And
Matthias Wivel
The Aud Jebsen Curator of Sixteenth-Century Italian Paintings at the National Gallery
Producer: Simon Tillotson