Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel

Valerie Shrimplin

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11

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Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel

Valerie Shrimplin

Published in American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Volume 1, Issue 1)

Received: 7 April 2013 Published: 2 May 2013

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Abstract

It is argued that Copernican astronomy is a key theme in Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, and was incorporated with the knowledge, consent and approval of the Popes concerned. In Christian art, the iconography of the Last Judgment (depicting the three parts of the universe: heaven earth and hell) was traditionally based on a layered structure relating to perceptions of the flat earth covered by the dome of heaven according to biblical cosmology. In Michelangelo’s revolutionary work, Christ is significantly depicted as a beardless Apollonian sun-god, positioned in the centre of a dramatic circular design rather than at the top of a layered format. This appears to relate to the traditional Christian analogy between the deity and the astronomical feature of the sun, the neoplatonic cult of sun-symbolism and sources in Dante. More importantly, the influence of the Copernican theory of heliocentricity is argued, since interest in such ideas in papal circles is demonstrated at exactly the time of the commission of the painting (1533). This provides important evidence of papal support for Copernican heliocentricity as early as the 1530s.

Published in	American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics (Volume 1, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11
Page(s)	1-7
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2013. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Copernicus, Michelangelo, Heliocentric, Sistine Chapel, Dante

References

[1]	Michelangelo Buonarroti, Last Judgment, fresco, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome, painted 1536-41 (13.7 x 12.2 metres; 45 x 40 feet). Illustrations are available through the powerpoint presentation, reproduced on the IAU Symposium 260 conference website http://iaus260.obspm.fr/. Most works referred to (eg Michelangelo’s Last Judgment itself) are well known and can be viewed in widely available source books or on the internet.
[2]	For a good summary of Michelangelo and his works, see Linda Murray, Michelangelo, His Life, Work and Times (London: Thames & Hudson 1984).
[3]	Nicholas Copernicus, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, Nuremburg, 1543 (ed. J. Dobrzycki, London: Macmillan, 1968).
[4]	Tolnay, Charles de, Michelangelo, 5 vols. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1943-60) vol 5: 49 and 122.
[5]	See K. Lehmann, 'The Dome of Heaven,' in W. E. Kleinbauer, Modern Perspectives in Western Art History, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971, pp. 227-270.
[6]	Cosmas Indicopleustes, Christian Topography (Vat. Gr. 699), cross-sectional diagram of the Universe, and depiction of the Last Judgment, sixth century. Vatican Library, Rome. Two out of the three surviving manuscripts were in Rome and Florence during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, where Michelangelo could have had access.
[7]	It appears significant that the ancient heliocentric theory as proposed by Aristarchus of Samos was mentioned by Vitruvius in his famous Ten Books on Architecture, with which Michelangelo was undoubtedly familiar.
[8]	For Dante see Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, transl. A Mandelbaum, 3 vols. (New York: Bantam, 1984), especially Inferno 34 and the Paradiso.
[9]	For Ficino and the neoplatonists, see in particular Marsilio Ficino, De Amore, Commentary of Plato's Symposium on Love (Dallas: Spring, 1985) Cassirer, Ernst, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy (Oxford: Blackwell, 1963).
[10]	De Sole is reproduced in translation in A. B. Fallico and H. Shapiro (eds.) Renaissance Philosophy, New York: Modern Library, 1967.
[11]	For Copernicus, see for example Kuhn, Thomas, The Copernican Revolution (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957), also Edward Rosen, Three Copernican Treatises (New York: Octagon, 1971).
[12]	See Koestler, A. The Sleepwalkers. A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984 and Kuhn, T. S. The Copernican Revolution. Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957.
[13]	Bayersiche Staats Bibliothek Munich, Codex Graecus Monacensis, 151, and see Ludwig von Pastor, History of the Popes, 24 vols., (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1901-28)10:336 and 12:549, also Leopold Prowe, Nicholas Copernicus (Berlin, 1883), 1:273.
[14]	The ‘Bayonne’ drawing, 1533 shows a clearly circular design, whilst the Buonarotti drawing (1534) alludes to the Virgin Mary in accordance with Revelation 12 ‘a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars’.
[15]	Schönberg’s letter was included in the printed versions of Revolutions in 1543.
[16]	See Mancinelli F. et al., Michelangelo e la Sistina. La Technica, il restauro, il mito, (Rome: Palombi, 1990) for information on the cleaning and restoration.

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Valerie Shrimplin. (2013). Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel. American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11

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Valerie Shrimplin. Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel. Am. J. Astron. Astrophys. 2013, 1(1), 1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11

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Valerie Shrimplin. Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel. Am J Astron Astrophys. 2013;1(1):1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11,
  author = {Valerie Shrimplin},
  title = {Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel},
  journal = {American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics},
  volume = {1},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1-7},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajaa.20130101.11},
  abstract = {It is argued that Copernican astronomy is a key theme in Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, and was incorporated with the knowledge, consent and approval of the Popes concerned. In Christian art, the iconography of the Last Judgment (depicting the three parts of the universe: heaven earth and hell) was traditionally based on a layered structure relating to perceptions of the flat earth covered by the dome of heaven according to biblical cosmology. In Michelangelo’s revolutionary work, Christ is significantly depicted as a beardless Apollonian sun-god, positioned in the centre of a dramatic circular design rather than at the top of a layered format. This appears to relate to the traditional Christian analogy between the deity and the astronomical feature of the sun, the neoplatonic cult of sun-symbolism and sources in Dante. More importantly, the influence of the Copernican theory of heliocentricity is argued, since interest in such ideas in papal circles is demonstrated at exactly the time of the commission of the painting (1533). This provides important evidence of papal support for Copernican heliocentricity as early as the 1530s.},
 year = {2013}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel
AU  - Valerie Shrimplin
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AB  - It is argued that Copernican astronomy is a key theme in Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, and was incorporated with the knowledge, consent and approval of the Popes concerned. In Christian art, the iconography of the Last Judgment (depicting the three parts of the universe: heaven earth and hell) was traditionally based on a layered structure relating to perceptions of the flat earth covered by the dome of heaven according to biblical cosmology. In Michelangelo’s revolutionary work, Christ is significantly depicted as a beardless Apollonian sun-god, positioned in the centre of a dramatic circular design rather than at the top of a layered format. This appears to relate to the traditional Christian analogy between the deity and the astronomical feature of the sun, the neoplatonic cult of sun-symbolism and sources in Dante. More importantly, the influence of the Copernican theory of heliocentricity is argued, since interest in such ideas in papal circles is demonstrated at exactly the time of the commission of the painting (1533). This provides important evidence of papal support for Copernican heliocentricity as early as the 1530s.
VL  - 1
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Author Information

Valerie Shrimplin

Independent Art Historian, Gresham College, Holborn, London EC1N 2HH, England

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Valerie Shrimplin. (2013). Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel. American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 1(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11

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ACS Style

Valerie Shrimplin. Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel. Am. J. Astron. Astrophys. 2013, 1(1), 1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11

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AMA Style

Valerie Shrimplin. Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel. Am J Astron Astrophys. 2013;1(1):1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11,
  author = {Valerie Shrimplin},
  title = {Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel},
  journal = {American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics},
  volume = {1},
  number = {1},
  pages = {1-7},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajaa.20130101.11},
  abstract = {It is argued that Copernican astronomy is a key theme in Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, and was incorporated with the knowledge, consent and approval of the Popes concerned. In Christian art, the iconography of the Last Judgment (depicting the three parts of the universe: heaven earth and hell) was traditionally based on a layered structure relating to perceptions of the flat earth covered by the dome of heaven according to biblical cosmology. In Michelangelo’s revolutionary work, Christ is significantly depicted as a beardless Apollonian sun-god, positioned in the centre of a dramatic circular design rather than at the top of a layered format. This appears to relate to the traditional Christian analogy between the deity and the astronomical feature of the sun, the neoplatonic cult of sun-symbolism and sources in Dante. More importantly, the influence of the Copernican theory of heliocentricity is argued, since interest in such ideas in papal circles is demonstrated at exactly the time of the commission of the painting (1533). This provides important evidence of papal support for Copernican heliocentricity as early as the 1530s.},
 year = {2013}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Michelangelo, Copernicus and the Sistine Chapel
AU  - Valerie Shrimplin
Y1  - 2013/05/02
PY  - 2013
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11
T2  - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
JF  - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
JO  - American Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics
SP  - 1
EP  - 7
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2376-4686
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajaa.20130101.11
AB  - It is argued that Copernican astronomy is a key theme in Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, and was incorporated with the knowledge, consent and approval of the Popes concerned. In Christian art, the iconography of the Last Judgment (depicting the three parts of the universe: heaven earth and hell) was traditionally based on a layered structure relating to perceptions of the flat earth covered by the dome of heaven according to biblical cosmology. In Michelangelo’s revolutionary work, Christ is significantly depicted as a beardless Apollonian sun-god, positioned in the centre of a dramatic circular design rather than at the top of a layered format. This appears to relate to the traditional Christian analogy between the deity and the astronomical feature of the sun, the neoplatonic cult of sun-symbolism and sources in Dante. More importantly, the influence of the Copernican theory of heliocentricity is argued, since interest in such ideas in papal circles is demonstrated at exactly the time of the commission of the painting (1533). This provides important evidence of papal support for Copernican heliocentricity as early as the 1530s.
VL  - 1
IS  - 1
ER  -

Copy | Download