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Michelangelo settles in Rome In 1534 he left Florence definitively, following the death of his father and of the pope, his patron, whom he considered his protector against his enemies in Florence and settled in Rome, eventually being made a Roman citizen 1546 in. He was at once commissioned to continue work in the Sistine chapel, this time working on the Last Judgemental, on the altar wall. It was first commissioned by Paul III, who had been elected pope on 12 October, and was at first supposed to be a Resurrection. Work began in 1536, though it had not progressed much by the following year, when it was found out that the plaster on which he was supposed to work was not for tempera, but for oil. Furious, Michelangelo had it removed. The consequences of the sack of Rome, in 1527, which Clement watched powerless from Castel Sant’Angelo, and of the Reformation can be felt in the very choice of subject and Michelangelo’s pessimism can be felt in the fresco. Even though in January Michelangelo had fallen from the scaffolding and hurt himself, work was finished in 1541. When it was unveiled, it caused a sensation similar to the one caused by the Creation, thirty years before. It was not, however, an unchallenged masterpiece, and it was as much reviled as it was praised. A succeeding pope, Pius IV, in 1564, through a council, insisted some of the figures be clothed, the task falling to Daniele da Cortona, who was in consequence nicknamed "the Breeches maker". This decision was not reversed even during the recent restoration, when Pope John Paul II declined to have the drapes removed from some of the nude figures. Though Michelangelo cannot be considered a mannerist, Mannerism can be traced to this fresco. It gives as message that the scope of painting is the exploitation of the nude only, preferably in the more difficult foreshortened poses. Michelangelo’s patron, Paul III, immediately commissioned two more frescoes for his private chapel, the Paoline chapel. Work started on these in 1542 and, though in 1545 a fire destroyed the roof of the chapel, needing immediate attention, so the half-finished frescoes would not be damaged was finished in 1550. The subjects are the Conversion of Saul (St. Paul) and the Crucifixion of St. Peter. In 1538 the 63 year-old Michelangelo met Vittoria Colonna, a 46 year-old widow. They become friends, exchanging letters and poems. She was to prove an admirer of his work, commenting on the Last Judgemental and the frescoes in the Pauline Chapel. With the painting of these frescoes began for Michelangelo a period of melancholy, difficulty and mysticism, which culminated eight years later with his writing of prayers in verse and with the Rondanini Pietà. |