A Post-Raphael World (and more talk about "The Last Judgement")

And what a sad world that must have been. But it was still a world where work had to be done, and Michelangelo still had his own life to live and art to make for himself. He received a commission to pain the Last Judgement fresco, and his return to Rome and his innovative work on this piece were certainly signs that Rome was revitalizing and once again becoming a cultural hub.

I want to talk a little bit about how the Last Judgement was a departure from the previous Renaissance fare we see at the time, and how Michelangelo's beliefs about religion come into effect in this fresco in particular.

We see Michelangelo depart from tradition radically in his portrayal of figures. Instead of having a diverse group of bodies, in both age and race, we see them perfected, young and similar, in adherence to Paul's concept of the glorified body. We see St. Bartholomew (who was flayed as an act of martyrdom) portrayed with a face different than the one he holds in his left hand.

So why would St. Bartholomew not be revived and made whole and also be given his same face? 

Well, according to St. Paul, all who have died at the second coming are to be granted a new and perfect body, something idealized and better than the mortal flesh that came before. this notion of a new body being granted is particularly interesting because a lot of scholars think the discarded flesh (yeah, I know, it's gross.) is actually a self portrait of Michelangelo himself. So, why a sack of flesh for a self portrait? I'm glad you asked, reader! This was apparently his was of saying that he wasn't going to have to spend eternity in his own wrinkly old man's body. He would instead be given a beautiful, ideal body to spend eternity in. And to an artist like Michelangelo, to whom the personification of idealized and beautiful bodies was already so important, it was crucial to portray this in painting. 

Another fascinating thing we see him doing with this fresco in particular is eliminating the picture plane, and compartmentalizing the figures in front of it instead. By limiting the draperies and clothing of the figures, we are forced instead to contemplate the wall behind them instead. Why else would there be such restraint and coordination among the hues in the painting? By painting the walls without boundaries (something we see frequently in other large fresco works; see the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which utilizes painted columns and architectural elements to block off different sections)

 the need to create a cohesive piece by other means arose. By having the hues match and the figures arranged just so, we get a sense of different areas during the Rapture, with Jesus and the Virgin right in the center. It's fascinating to think how revolutionary this was, and how it translates as a compartmentalized space despite the lack of substantial dividers within the fresco.