Last Judgment (10)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michelangelo,_Giudizio_Universale_02.jpg
The Last Judgment

The Last Judgment is a piece that is made to both inspire and instill fear in the viewer. Even though I was fascinated by this piece, I was a little nervous to have to pay close attention to the details and talk about them. Michelangelo’s image of hell looks so realistic that it really makes you shiver with the thought of actually going to such a place. The painting is both heaven and hell, but surprisingly enough the demons in the picture stood out to me more than any other image. The amount of detail put into the souls who are put in internal damnation is shocking. Even though the Bible inspires this, you can see Michelangelo’s imagination take on a life of its own. Looking at this painting you no longer have to read the book of Revelations, because it’s right there in front of you, from the angel holding the book of life, to the images of the cemetery where the souls connect with their bodies. Although the Council of Trent issued decrees due to some images that were not allowed for the church. Biagio da Cesena said “it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing them so shamefully," so what does Michelangelo do? He paints Cesena as the judge of the underworld with donkey ears. And although he’s nude he has a snake wrapped around him biting his penis. Which to me was hilarious. Even though Cesena complained to the Pope, the Pope said that because he was in hell he had no place to say anything anymore and the image remained. But after Michelangelo died the genitals of some of the figures was painted over and some of the women were clothed. Daniele da Volterra did this. Seeing this piece in person had me speechless, I couldn’t look away. I became so obsessed over it that I barely gave any attention to the Sistine Chapel. Another beautiful work of art done by the amazing Michelangelo.