Some of the paintings that will be unveiled tomorrow. Don't miss it!

Design Update

Here is an peek of how our design will look like. As of today, the design is complete and we will start painting. Stay tuned for more pictures about the paintings.

Painting the Sistine Chapel

Although Michelangelo was a skilled artist, he had problems when painting the Sistine Chapel. One of them was that he was “forced” to do it by Pope Julius II. Julius had this idea that Michelangelo could paint anything. The problem is that Michelangelo has used a brush very few times and he was better at sculpting than painting. Nonetheless, he still had to do it by order of the Pope. Some historians said that when Michelangelo protested, Julius hit him in the head with his staff.
Another problem that this Renaissance painter had, was that he didn’t know how to paint fresco, the technique the Pope asked him to use. He must learn the technique if he wanted to not remain in shame for the rest of his life. The fresco technique consisted of mixing sand and lime, and then spread the mix over the wall. Next, the artist applied his colors but had to do it fast, while the wall was still wet. When it dried, the colors fused chemically with the lime and became permanent.  Michelangelo complained in the letters to his father that it was physically ex
hausting to paint frescos. For example, when he painted a ceiling, he wrote that he had to paint it above his head. In one of his letters, he wrote that he had neck pain and couldn’t stand it anymore. The artist even drew a cartoon, in which he was painting a figure on the ceiling.

What Michelangelo did next was to write to his friends in Florence, in order to come to Rome and teach him how to paint frescos. He already had a concept for the paintings which was the events and figures before the birth of Christ. Among these events was the creation of Adam or Eva eating the forbidden apple.

When his friends came, they painted part of the first panel on the ceiling. However, he later sent them away after he realized that he could not paint the way his friends did. The artist decided to risk it all. To start his frescos, Michelangelo made sketches on canvas with watercolor. Then he locked himself in the Sistine Chapel and spent hours copying these sketches on the vault of the chapel. He stood in a wooden plank that was 60 feet above the ground. His head was always looking up. While he was painting the chapel, he had to live inside it from 1508 until 1512. He was so focused on his job that he said: “I have no friends and don’t want any.”
Finally, when he was almost finishing painting the chapel, Julius II decided to see it for himself. He was so amazed because the paintings were something that wasn’t seen before in the history of Christian art. Once the public saw the chapel for the first time, they couldn’t believe what they were seeing and many considered the paintings the greatest thing of all time. Julius II would later proudly give the first Mass in the chapel.

Bibliography:
How Michelangelo Painted the Sistine Chapel | Great Names in History. (n.d.).Great Names in History. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from http://100falcons.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/how-michelangelo-painted-the-sistine-chapel/

Facts about the Sistine Chapel

1. 25,000 people visit the chapel each day
2. The chapel gives the Vatican a annual revenue of  around 70 million Euros
3. The sanctuary has exactly the same dimensions (described in the old testament) as the temple of Solomon.
4. Before Miccelangello started his art work, the ceiling had a painting of the night sky full of stars
5. The main panels of the ceiling represent the book of the Genesis, only that they are painted in inverse order because Miccelangello wanted to live the hardest part (the creation) for the last
6. Miccelangellos depiction of God as a masculine and strong person represented the first time God was depicted in that human and dynamic way, before, God was painted as a hand coming from the sky.
7. Since 1870, the chapel has been the official place for the conclave.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/italy/rome/9917841/Romes-Sistine-Chapel-50-fascinating-facts.html

Progress update:

Last thursday, we finally contacted and spoke with our sponsor which resulted to be the head of the art department. This is a great advantage, because. Ot only will she sign the "contract" but she will help us with the artistic techniques to be used. So, after the sponsor part was done, we completed our design of the ceiling. It has the same structure and division of the 16th chapel but with different themes as explained before. During the process of creating the design we encountered our first set back which was time. To do a complex, renaissance style painting, we need to really use time efficiently to complete the work as best as possible. The second problem was the complexity of the renaissance style because it includes a lot of complex technique that we must use. This will force us to administrate better our time and use our capacities to full potential. Finally, the unveiling of the ceiling is scheduled for January the 21st.

Welcome to the 21st century sistine chapel blog. We are a group of students, that as a project, are in charge of creating and painting a new version of the sistine chapel located at the Vatican. The purpose of the project is to imitate the whole process that a renaissance artist had to go through to complete his art work. This includes finding a sponsor, getting financed, create expectation, and finally unveil the art work to the public. The themes that will be included in this new version of the ceiling are ones not included in the original painting, and would be painted like if a famous renaissance artist did it. Throught this blog, we will keep you updated with the progress of the project and give you some history and facts of Miccelangelos painting. Stay tuned

Day1: 
We organize ourselves and research information about the sixtine chapel and place a budget of $50. The fundraisers start doing a presentation of some kind to appeal a potential fundraiser, while the rest of the group, as a whole, is deciding which topics to include in our ceiling and how to draw them.

Ideas we thought:
Las novenas
12 via cruxis
12 apóstoles
Ark of Noe
Cherubs
Saints

Sistine chapel historical background

The chapel takes its name from pope sixtus, who was pope from 1471 to 1484. This pope had previously restored an old chapel in the vatican called "capella magna". Here is where the artistic job
of  miccellangello took place. Some of the walls of the chapel where painted by other famous artists
like boticceli and ghiraldelli, but the most important part, the ceilling, was done by Micelangello. The artist was inspired in the book of the Genesis, with themes like the creation of man and the great flood. The work of the Italian artist lasted from 1536 to 1541 during the pontificate of Paul III. Finally, John Paul II said that the sistine chapel is "a place that, for each pope, holds the memory of a special day in his life"

Source: http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/CSN/CSN_Storia.html

Miccelangello, The original painter of the Sistine Chapel