Sistine Chapel

TNDOE Standard 4: Historical and Cultural Relationships

•Students will understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
4.1 Demonstrate an understanding of how historical and contemporary works of art
reflect and influence societies and cultures.
4.2 Interpret the function and explore the meaning of specific art objects within varied
cultures.
4.3 Demonstrate how history and culture influence the production of art
MNPS Objectives:
I. Examines specific works of art and artists in terms of history,
aesthetics, and culture.
II. Differentiates specific works of art and artists as belonging to
particular cultures, movements, time periods, and places.
III. Identifies how the visual arts reflect cultural history, purpose,
and function.
I. Understands how culture and context influence the
function, meaning, creation of artwork.
 TNDOE Standard 4:
Historical and Cultural Relationships –
Performance Indicators

• Analyze and explain how historical and

contemporary works of art reflect and
influence societies and cultures.
• Analyze the functional and meaning on
specific art objects across various cultures
and times.
• Identify and differentiate among the variety
of historical and cultural contexts in terms of
functions and purposes of works of art.
 Art as Emotion© Lesson Plan 3 - Visual
Art Integration with Geometry
TNDOE STANDARD 2.0: VISUAL ART
Students will use knowledge of both
structures and functions.
2.1 Demonstrate an understanding of art
elements and design principles.
2.2 Explore and identify how art elements and
design principles applied through various
media, techniques, and processes
produce different effects;
2.3 Identify developments of drawings
applying elements of line,
SHAPE, texture, and value to create form and
space.
MNPS Objectives – CULTURAL AND
HISTORICAL CONNECTIONS :
CREATION COMMUNICATION
• *Exhibits critical and creative thinking
skills with the perceptual awareness
necessary for understanding and
producing works of art.
**Uses a variety of thematic subject matter
(big idea) to create works of art.
TNDOE GEOMETRY (3108) 3.0
The student will State Performance Indicators:
• SPI 3108.1.3 Use geometric understanding
and spatial visualization of geometric solids
to solve problems and/or create drawings.
Course Level Expectations.
CLE 3108.3.1 use analytic geometry tools to
explore geometric problems involving parallel
and perpendicular lines, circles and special
points of polygons.
• Checks for Understanding
(Formative/Summative Assessment)
• 3108.1.10 Use visualization, spatial
reasoning and geometric modeling to solve
problems.
• 3108.1.11 Identify and sketch solids formed
by two-dimensional figures -lines.
•
3108.1.12 Connect the study of geometry to
historical development.
MNPS Objectives – refer to State – TNDOE
Sistine Chapel Ceiling Layout
 Nine scenes from the Book of
Genesis - the first book of the Bible.
• The pictures fall into three groups of three
alternating large and small panels.[The first
group shows God
creating the Heavens and the Earth.
• The second group shows God creating the first
man and woman, Adam and Eve, and their
disobedience of God and consequent expulsion
from the Garden of Eden where they have lived
and where they walked with God.
• The third group of three pictures shows the
plight of Humanity, and in particular the family of
Noah.
 Separation of Light from Darkness
• is based on verses 3-5
from the first chapter of
the Book of Genesis:
– 3And God said, "Let
there be light," and there
was light.
– 4God saw that the light
was good, and He
separated the light from
the darkness.
– 5God called the light
"day," and the darkness
he called "night." And
there was evening, and
there was morning—the
first day.
 Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Plants
• The scene is divided
unequally: the great disk of
the sun - the only element
of colour that stands out
clearly from the more
subdued tones of the
clothes, flesh, and the
greyish white background
of the sky –
• The central axis of the
field, and the whole of the
right part is dominated by
the figure of the Creator
who, surrounded by four
children, moves
impetuously toward the
viewer.
Creation of the Sun and Moon
GOD's face detail
 3. The Separation of Land
and Water
• God divides the
waters from the
heavens
 4. The Creation of Adam
• In the first of the
pictures, and one of
the most widely
recognised images in
the history of
painting,
Michelangelo shows
God reaching out to
touch Adam,
• From beneath the
sheltering arm of
God, Eve looks out,
a little
apprehensively.[17]
 GOD creates Eve
• God creating Eve from the
side of the sleeping Adam
has been taken in its
composition directly from
another Creation
sequence, the relief panels
that surround the door of
the Basilica of San
Petronio, Bologna by
Jacopo della Quercia
whose work Michelangelo
had studied in his youth
 The Temptation and Expulsion
Michelangelo combines two contrasting scenes into one panel, that of Adam and Eve
taking fruit from the forbidden tree, Eve trustingly taking it from the hand of the Serpent
and Adam eagerly picking it for himself; and their banishment from the Garden of Eden,
where they have lived in the company of God, to the world outside where they have to
fend for themselves and experience death
 The Sacrifice of Noah
• depicts the
sacrifice made
by the family of
Noah, after their
safe deliverance
from the
Great Flood
which destroyed
the rest of
Humankind.
 The Great Flood.
• Scene shows Noah's family escaped floats at the rear of the picture while
the rest of humanity tries frantically to scramble to some point of safety.
 The Drunkenness of Noah
• After the Flood, Noah tills the
soil and grows vines. He is
shown doing so, in the
background of the picture.
He becomes drunk and
inadvertently exposes
himself.
• His youngest son, Ham,
brings his two brothers
Shem and Japheth to
• see the sight but they
discreetly cover their
father with a cloak.
• Ham is later cursed by Noah
and told that the
descendants of Ham's son
Canaan will serve Shem and
Japheth's descendants
forever.
• Michelangelo - The Sistine
Chapel Ceiling Frescoes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sistine
_Chapel_ceiling_photo_2.jpg
- Use this URL to view the Sistine Chapel
Ceiling. Use the URL below to answer the
following questions
• http://arthistory.about.com/od/famous_p
aintings/a/sischap_ceiling.htm
 1. Why did Michelangelo paint
the SISTINE CHAPEL?
• Pope Julius II (also known as Giulio II and "Il
papa terribile"), requested that Michelangelo
paint the chapel ceiling. Julius was determined
that Rome should be rebuilt to its former glory,
and had embarked on a vigorous campaign to
get the job done.
• That such splendor would (a) add luster to the
name of Julius II and (b) serve to supercede
anything that Pope Alexander VI (a Borgia, and
Julius' rival) had accomplished, were not
unimportant consideration.
 2. How big is the ceiling?
• It's about 40 meters (131 feet) long by 13
meters (43 feet) wide. These numbers
are rounded off just a tad, but don't
detract from the fact that Michelangelo
painted well over 5,000 square feet of
frescoes.
 List the narrative scenes from
Genesis.
1. The Separation of Light and Darkness
2. The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Earth
3. The Separation of Land and Water
4. The Creation of Adam
5. The Creation of Eve
6. The Temptation and Expulsion
7. The Sacrifice of Noah
• The Great Flood
• The Drunkenness of Noah
What do the frescoes depict?
• The main panels down the center depict scenes
from the Book of Genesis, from the Creation, to
the Fall, to shortly after Noah's deluge.
• Adjacent to each of these scenes, on either side,
are immense portraits of prophets and sibyls
who foretold the coming of the Messiah.
• All told there are more than 300 painted figures
on the ceiling. A
• Architectural members and moldings which
dissect the ceiling are two-dimensional, skillfully
painted in by Michelangelo to demarcate
separate compositions.
 4. Michelangelo a sculptor.
Why was he painting?
• Michelangelo vastly preferred working with marble to
almost anything else that life offered. Prior to the ceiling
frescoes, the only painting he'd done was during his brief
stint as a student in Ghirlandaio's workshop.
• Pope Julius II, however, was adamant that Michelangelo
- and no other - should paint the chapel ceiling. What
Julius wanted, he usually got. Besides that, he'd been
stalling Michelangelo on a prior, wildly lucrative
commission (sculpting 40 massive figures for his tomb),
and kept dangling that juicy prize as a reward for
completion of the ceiling job.
5. How long did it take Michelangelo
to paint the Chapel Ceiling?
• It took him a bit over four years, from July of 1508 to
October of 1512. Michelangelo got off to a slow start, not
having painted frescoes before.
• It wasn't Michelangelo's fault that the ceiling took four
years. The work suffered numerous setbacks, such as
mold and miserable, damp weather that disallowed
plaster curing.
• A primary cause of downtime occurred when Julius was
off waging a war, or ill to the point that Last Rites were
administered.
• The ceiling project, and any hope Michelangelo had of
being paid, were both frequently in jeopardy while Julius
was absent or near death. Small wonder that the artist
complained so often and bitterly about the project.
 6. Did Michelangelo really paint
lying on his back?
• No. Charlton Heston did in the movie, The
Agony and the Ecstasy but the real
Michelangelo didn't lay on his back to paint the
ceiling.
• He conceived and had constructed a unique
scaffolding system. It was sturdy enough to
hold workers and materials, but began high up
the walls of the chapel in order that Mass
might still be celebrated below.
 7. Did he actually paint these
frescoes all by himself?
• Michelangelo gets, and deserves, credit for the entire project. The
complete design was his. The sketches and cartoons for the
frescoes were all of his hand, and Michelangelo executed the vast
bulk of the actual painting by himself.
• He had many assistants, if only to mix his paints, scramble up and
down ladders, and prepare the day's plaster (a nasty business).
• Occasionally, a talented assistant might be entrusted with a patch of
sky, a bit of landscape, or a figure so small and minor it is barely
discernable from below. All of these were worked from his cartoons,
though. And clever, temperamental Michelangelo hired and fired
these assistants on such a regular basis that none of them could
claim credit for any part of the ceiling.
 View the Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes at
http://www.wga.hu/tours/sistina/index1.html;
Answer the following critical thinking questions
8. How did Michelangelo record, affect, or
influence change in the Renaissance
(historical, cultural) or Sistine Chapel Ceiling
(religious context)?
9. Identify how the Sistine Chapel Ceiling
frescoes reflect cultural history, purpose,
and function.
10. Select one of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling
frescoes. Analyze and critique
organizational components and expressive
qualities of the selected artwork.
11. CONDIVI Ascanio Condivi (1525–1574) was an Italian
painter and writer. Generally regarded as a mediocre
artist, he is primarily remembered as the biographer of
Michelangelo
12. FRESCO
– Advantage -The reason that Michelangelo employed the fresco
technique is that if the artist worked onto completely dry plaster,
then the medium in every brushstroke sank in immediately and
the pigment could not be manipulated as well.
• b. Disadvantage - The disadvantage of fresco
painting is that the plaster becomes very hot while it
is setting and gives off fumes.
13. GHIRLANDAIO- Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449 –
January 11, 1494) was a renowned Florentine
Renaissance painter, a contemporary of Botticelli and
Filippino Lippi. His many apprentices included
Michelangelo
14. INTONACO - At the outset, the plaster, intonaco, began to grow mold because it was
too wet. Michelangelo had to remove it and start again.
15. GOLD LEAF - Gold leafing in art Gold leaf has traditionally been most popular
and most common in its use as gilding material for decoration of art
(including statues) or the picture frames that are often used to hold or
decorate paintings,
16. LAPIS LAZULI In architecture it has been used for cladding the walls and columns
of palaces and churches. It was also ground and processed to make the pigment
ultramarine for tempera paint and, more rarely, oil paint.
17. Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational
reform, engaged in by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are
today known as humanists. It developed during the fourteenth
and turn-of-the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the
challenge of Medieval scholastic education, which emphasized
practical, pre-professional and scientific studies. Scholasticism
focused on preparing men to be doctors, lawyers or professional
theologians, and was taught from approved textbooks in logic,
natural philosophy, medicine, law and theology.[2]
• Humanists sought to create citizens, women as well as men, in
many cases, who would be able to speak and write with
eloquence and clarity, and thus be capable of participating in the
civic life of their communities and to persuade others to virtuous
and prudent actions.