the fallen beings out of Paradise. In this double action, this union of two separate moments, there is something peculiarly poetic and significant: it is guilt and punishment in one picture. The sudden and lightning-like appearance of the avenging angel behind the demon of darkness has a most impressive effect. The fourth, a representation of the Deluge, with many figures, is one of the most extensive dramatic compositions of Michael Angelo. The four small intermediate compartments, representing the Almighty separating Light from Darkness, the Creation of Eve, the Thanksgiving of Noah, and the Inebriation of Noah, all display great and peculiar beauties.' The prophets and sibyls in the triangular compartment of the curved portion of the ceiling are the largest figures in the whole work; these, too, are among the most wonderful forms that modern art has called into life. They are all represented seated, employed with books or rolled manuscripts; genii stand near or behind them. These mighty beings sit before us pensive, meditative, inquiring, or looking upwards with inspired countenances. Their forms and movements, indicated by the grand lines and masses of the drapery, are 1 [There are five smaller subjects (see the accompanying engraving); the one omitted by the author is the Gathering of the Waters (Gen. i. 9). Although these compartments are relatively small, some of them contain figures larger than life: on the other hand, in one of the large subjects-the Deluge -the figures are so small, owing to their number, that the composition can scarcely be distinguished from below (and must always have been indistinct, making every allowance for the injuries of time). The same may be said of the two subjects next it, the Sacrifice of Noah, and the same patriarch derided by Ham. These three subjects are the last in order at that end of the flat portion of the ceiling which is next the door; the figures toward the other end are colossal. This difference might be partly accounted for by supposing the subjects with small figures to have been the first done, when the painter, finding that they produced no effect from below, changed the dimensions as we see to satisfy the eye. That Michael Angelo really began at this end of the ceiling appears from an incidental statement of Condivi relating to the disgust which the great artist felt from a temporary alteration of the colours (and partly, perhaps, from the defect to which we allude). The biographer says, "having commenced the undertaking and completed the painting of the Deluge, the surface of the fresco began to exhibit a mouldy efflorescence," etc. It is true it would have been difficult to represent such a subject as the Deluge with very few figures, and the greatest number in the compositions of larger treatment is six (the double subject of the Fall and Expulsion from Paradise has no more), but any liberty of this kind would have been preferable to the indistinctness resulting from diminutive size. - ED.] majestic and dignified. We see in them beings who, while they feel and bear the sorrows of a corrupt and sinful world, have power to look for consolation into the secrets of the future. Yet the greatest variety prevails in the attitudes and expression—each figure is full of individuality. Zacharias is an aged man, busied in calm and circumspect investigation; Jeremiah is bowed down absorbed in thought-the thought of deep and bitter grief; Ezekiel turns with hasty movement to the genius next to him, who points upwards with joyful expectation, &c. The sibyls are equally characteristic: the Persian -a lofty, majestic woman, very aged; the Erythræan-full of power, like the warrior goddess of wisdom; the Delphiclike Cassandra, youthfully soft and graceful, but with strength to bear the awful seriousness of revelation, &c. The Genealogy of the Holy Virgin' is represented in the most varied family groups, which, without delineating particular events (of which, indeed, few are mentioned in the Scriptures), express domestic union and a tranquil expectation and hope in the future. To these simple circumstances the artist has given the most varied motives, and has produced from them a series of groups, which please by a peculiar air of seclusion and a dignified and beautiful conception of domestic life. These groups and figures belong again to Michael Angelo's noblest compositions; they display a depth of feeling and tenderness, which, though still bearing the impress of his elevated mind, is rarely found in his works, and offer interesting points of comparison with the Holy Families of Raphael. Four historical subjects in the corner soffits of the ceiling are still to be mentioned; they represent instances of the deliverance of the people of Israel: 2-Judith, after she has slain Holofernes; Goliath vanquished by David; the Miracle of the Brazen Serpent; and the Punishment of Haman. In 1 [Some Biblical commentators have explained the difference between the genealogies recorded by St. Matthew and St. Luke, by supposing that the latter gives the descent of the Virgin; but even this view (which is not that of the church of Rome) is inapplicable here, since Michael Angelo has given the descent of Joseph as it appears in St. Matthew, the names being inscribed near the figures.-ED.] 2 [See a note on these four subjects at the end of the chapter.—ED.] these works also the great genius of the artist manifests itself: the figure of Haman on the Cross has always been celebrated as a master-work of difficult foreshortening. After these paintings the artist was occupied chiefly with statues and architectural works, of which the principal were the new sacristy of S. Lorenzo at Florence, and the monuments of the Medici family, which are placed there. In his sixtieth year he was invited to undertake his second great work in painting, the Last Judgment, on the end wall of the Sistine chapel, sixty feet high. He began it at the desire of Clement VII., and finished it within seven years, in the pontificate of Paul III., in the year 1541. If we consider the countless number of figures, the boldness of the conception, the variety of movement and attitude, the masterly drawing, particularly the extraordinary and difficult foreshortenings, this immense work certainly stands alone in the history of art, but in purity and majesty it does not equal the paintings on the ceiling. In the upper half of the picture we see the Judge of the world, surrounded by the apostles and patriarchs: beyond these, on one side, are the martyrs; on the other, the saints, and a numerous host of the blessed. Above, under the two arches of the vault, two groups of angels bear the instruments of the passion. Below the Saviour another group of angels holding the books of life sound the trumpets to awaken the dead. On the right is represented the resurrection; and higher, the ascension of the blessed. On the left, hell, and the fall of the condemned, who audaciously strive to press upwards to heaven. The day of wrath ("dies iræ") is before us—the day, of which the old hymn says Quantus tremor est futurus, The Judge turns in wrath toward the condemned and raises his right hand, with an expression of rejection and condemnation; beside him the Virgin veils herself with her drapery, and turns, with a countenance full of anguish, toward THE LAST JUDGMENT; a fresco painting by Michael Angelo, in the Sistine Chapel, showing its position with reference to the high altar Page 306 |