The Last Judgment
12:00 AMTo Those Which They Never Turned Another Cheek:
Admiration for Paintings with Major Authority Issues
Curated by Shweta Vadlamani
“They condemned all forms of nudity in religious art, yet Michelangelo still insisted on painting every form in The Last Judgment naked as the day they were born.” I laughed at the tour guide’s phrases while attempting to hide in the shade of St. Peter’s Basilica, anything to get away from the hot, midday Roman sun. At the time, the gravity of Michelangelo’s confidence and disregard for the church did not strike me as anything extraordinary. Painters were usually self-pompous narcissists, so why should I regard Michelangelo any differently?
I had not taken any professional training in Art History yet, so I found it absolutely extraordinary when the tour guide pointed to a figure on the bottom, left side of the painting and identified him as the Pope’s own Master of Ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena.
Cesena, with a concession of papal clergymen, visited Michelangelo while the artist was doing some edits to the top half of the painting. The figures, though now shown with clothes draped over their genitalia, were originally painted as completely nude. The papal men, struck with never before having seen a representation of God’s masculinity, quickly accused Michelangelo of being “insensitive to proper decorum” and disrespecting the sanctity of the Holy Church.
Then, Cesena added with a hot-tempered flourish, that “it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamelessly” then suggested that Michelangelo scrap his work and move it rather to “the public baths or taverns.”
Michelangelo did not respond to them, only continued to paint his work.
When the painter asked the clergymen to return the very next week, however, Cesena was infuriated to find a portrait of himself, situated in the painting’s section of Hell, wrapped in a coiled snake and sporting a pair of donkey ears. Michelangelo then explained to the Master of Ceremonies that he should be honored with his inclusion in the painting, for he plays the role of Minos, judge of the underworld. Michelangelo explained that only the underworld would appreciate his quick condemnation of good souls.
Cesena complained to the pope, hoping to receive some sort of retribution. To his dismay, however, the pope only laughed and joked, "at least your managerial positions do not extend to hell… the portrait may remain all as it is.”
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| Michelangelo, The Last Judgment, 1537-1541 |
History
required power. Precedents were set by people who wielded that power. There was
one point of time when people believed that the enthroned were the only ones
who could oppose the forces of society to make a change. I now proceed to write
about the artistic voices who actively refuted that claim.
I had not taken any professional training in Art History yet, so I found it absolutely extraordinary when the tour guide pointed to a figure on the bottom, left side of the painting and identified him as the Pope’s own Master of Ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena.
Cesena, with a concession of papal clergymen, visited Michelangelo while the artist was doing some edits to the top half of the painting. The figures, though now shown with clothes draped over their genitalia, were originally painted as completely nude. The papal men, struck with never before having seen a representation of God’s masculinity, quickly accused Michelangelo of being “insensitive to proper decorum” and disrespecting the sanctity of the Holy Church.
Then, Cesena added with a hot-tempered flourish, that “it was mostly disgraceful that in so sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamelessly” then suggested that Michelangelo scrap his work and move it rather to “the public baths or taverns.”
Michelangelo did not respond to them, only continued to paint his work.
When the painter asked the clergymen to return the very next week, however, Cesena was infuriated to find a portrait of himself, situated in the painting’s section of Hell, wrapped in a coiled snake and sporting a pair of donkey ears. Michelangelo then explained to the Master of Ceremonies that he should be honored with his inclusion in the painting, for he plays the role of Minos, judge of the underworld. Michelangelo explained that only the underworld would appreciate his quick condemnation of good souls.
Cesena complained to the pope, hoping to receive some sort of retribution. To his dismay, however, the pope only laughed and joked, "at least your managerial positions do not extend to hell… the portrait may remain all as it is.”
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