On a fall day in 1509 the public first saw Michelangelo’s frescoes painted on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. According to Writer’s Almanac, Michelangelo– a sculptor, not a painter– didn’t want to paint the Sistine ceiling. But Pope Julius II, insisted that the ceiling be painted. In fact, the Pope actually threatened to fling the artist from the scaffolding if he refused.
In the course of creating one of his most famous works, Michelangelo supposedly complained constantly. He was, after all, in his 70s when he began painting the Sistine Chapel. It was extremely uncomfortable to be up on scaffolding and bent backward, in order to paint over his head. More than once, he threatened to leave Rome without finishing the ceiling, but Julius threatened right back. So at a time when he was probably ready for a nice little retirement villa on the Italian coastline, he was creating one of his finest masterpieces. Genuis, it seems, does not take age into account.
Michelangelo even wrote a sonnet complaining about his work. It contains the lines: “A goiter it seems I got from this backward craning like the cats get there in Lombardy.” And, “From all this straining my guts and my hambones tangle.” And, “Feet are out of sight; they just scuffle around, erratic. Up front my hide’s tight elastic; in the rear it’s slack and droopy, except where crimps have callused. I’m bent like a bow.”
Modern viewers are often brought to tears when witnessing the Sistine ceiling. They seldom think of (or even know about!) the physical agonies Michelangelo endured to complete it. Instead, they remain focused on his genius, which is awesomely evident.
Being an artist/writer/sculptor can be agognizing work. We may not have popes threatening to throw us from a scaffold, but we have bills that have to be paid and precious little time to complete our creations. We all become whiners at one time or another. It’s only human. But somehow, some way, we must persevere and let our own internal Michelangelo create its masterpiece.
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I love Michelangelo’s work. I never thought of him as a whiner…
I never thought of him that way, either. I am one of those people who has tears in my eyes when I see his work. But since I’ve been known to get whiney from time to time (is whiney a word?), I thought I’d use it. It makes him seem a little more human, somehow.
It must have been extremely uncomfortable for him to spend hours an hours bent backwards in order to paint over his head. “Whiney” or not, we have to gim him credit for that!
I visited the Sisitine Chapel a couple of years ago.
Thanks for your comment, Anna. We are so fortunate that Michelangelo didn’t get discouraged and quit. Sometimes being an artist is simply hard work. And if we complain from time to time, I think it is only human.
P.S. I checked out your blog. Very nice!
The 1965 film “The Agony and the Ecstasy” pretty much centers around Michelangelo the Whiner. Or as some would say Michelangelo the Tortured Artist. I don’t know how historically accurate the film is but I recommend it to any working artist.
Thanks for the comment, Daryle. I will definitely check out the film.
Not just lying on your back. Imagine paint dripping into your face and the smell, and a 70-year-old man trying to see with candlelight. It’s amazing he didn’t die. Check out The Agony and the Ecstasy, with Charlton Heston (!) as Mickey and Rex Harrison as the pope. Not the most accurate, historically, but very entertaining. (Interestingly, Michelangelo, despite the stress and trauma of the Sistine Ceiling, lived to be 88–astonishingly old for the time. His rival down the road, Leonardo Da Vinci, was what we today would call a health-nut: vegetarian, into fitness, etc., and he did at 67.)
Also check out my own blog, Entertaining Welsey Shaw, for some new posts about celebrities I have been lucky enough to meet, and one I may meet this coming weekend, if I am *very* lucky.