Date : between 1508 and 1509
Material : Fresco
| Item 6 on 28
Indoor Architecture
Fresco (Ceiling)
Vitrine : 2
Area related
Le Vatican (Le Vatican)
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| Description |  |
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"And God said to Noah: 'I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood'" (Genesis 6:13-14)... "'For in seven days I will send rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground'" (Genesis 7:4) ..."And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth" (Genesis 7:10).
Michelangelo shows the episode of the Flood in all its drama In the foreground there is a hill towards which a great multitude of persons, buried under the weight of their personal effects or their relatives, are heading, so hoping to avoid the wrath of God. On the other side they are crowding onto a small island, stretching out their hands to lend aid to those still in danger. In the centre is a boat, about to sink, while in the background is the ark on which, through the will of God, Noah, his family and pairs of animals will be saved.
The central part of the ceiling shows nine stories of the Genesis, divided into groups of three, relative to the origin of the universe, of man and of evil. The first three episodes (Separation of Light from Darkness: Genesis 1:1-5; Creation of the sun, moon and planets: Genesis 1:11-19; Separation of Land from Sea: Genesis 1,9-10) dominated by the figure of God, Creator of the Universe, are followed by those of the Creation of Adam (Genesis 1:26-27) and of Eve (Genesis 2:18-25), with the figures of man and woman in their nakedness, the symbol of innocence (Genesis 2:25) which will be lost with Original Sin (Genesis 3:1-13), shown in the next panel together with the resulting Banishment from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:22-24). The last three frescoes (The Sacrifice of Noah: Genesis 8:15-20, The Flood: Genesis 6:5-8,20, The Drunkenness of Noah: Genesis 9:20-27) show the fall of mankind and its rebirth with Noah, chosen by God as the only man to be saved for repopulating the earth after the Creator had decided to destroy every living creature in it because of human evil.
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Michel-Ange
Article "Michel-Ange" d'Etienne Bricon paru dans La grande encyclopédie : inventaire raisonné des sciences, des lettres et des arts - Paris 1885-1902
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