Newsflash: The Many Faces of Shakespeare: Is This One Really His? - New York Times

The Many Faces of Shakespeare: Is This One Really His? - New York Times

Newsflash: NASA, UNH Scientists Uncover Lost Maya Ruins � from Space

Newswise: NASA, UNH Scientists Uncover Lost Maya Ruins from Space!

Newsflash: "Greek Hiker Finds 6,500-Year-Old Pendant"!

Greek Hiker Finds 6,500-Year-Old Pendant - Yahoo! News

Newsflash: Leonardo notebook on show in Milan

Leonardo notebook on show in Milan!

Question for Paper due 2/28

Okay, admittedly this question is a little experimental, and there honestly isn't just one "right answer" I'm looking for... I'm just interested in seeing what you do with this analytically and synthetically in 3-4 pages!

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Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling for Pope Julius II in Rome from 1508-1512, and finished a good five years before Martin Luther will nail his "95 Theses" to the door of the church of Wittenberg. As you can see here at these overviews of the ceiling, there are several individual panels in his composition, which includes (in the center) stories from the book of Genesis, (and on the borders) portraits of the ancestors of Christ and portraits of Old Testament prophets and of the sybils (who were classical prophets like the Oracle of Delphi in the ancient world and were traditionally believed to have foretold the birth of Jesus like the Old Testament prophets had).

Now, if you find his whole composition too daunting (the parts of the Chapel Michelangelo did run from "Michelangelo's Ceiling: The Overview" to 33 through 39 - Ancestors of Christ), feel free to focus on the panels relating to panels 4-6 on the Creation of Adam and the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.

First of all, consider what political, social and/or cultural aspects of the Italian Renaissance (and particularly humanism) are evident in Michelangelo's work on the ceiling.

Next, check out the wall behind the main altar in the Sistine Chapel. It was also painted by Michelangelo, but over 20 years later... and long after the start of the Reformations. In contrast to the ceiling which depicts - at least in part - the creation of mankind, this fresco instead illustrates The Last Judgement, when Christ (accompanied here by Mary, his mother) is supposed to return to Earth and definitively separate all humans into the Saved who ascend into heaven (with the many, many saints of the Catholic Church leading the way) and the Damned who are cast into hell.

Okay, after all that... here's the million dollar question!

"Compare and contrast Michelangelo's frescoes of the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgement. What elements are specifically influenced by the Italian Renaissance in both, and why, do you think? In what specific ways do the Reformations impact and change Michelangelo's later work in The Last Judgement, do you think??"

For Class: Voyages of Exploration

Voyages of Exploration

For Class: The Council of Trent and Religious Art

The Council of Trent and Religious Art

Michelangelo's Sculpture

Veronese before the Venetian Inquisition

Post-Catholic Reformation Sculpture - Bernini
Bernini: Anima dannata
Another view...
Still another... with "Blessed Soul"

Newsflash: "Intact tomb found in Egypt's Valley of the Kings!"

Intact tomb found in Egypt's Valley of the Kings - Yahoo! News

FYI: Fun with Mona Lisa!

• Making Over Mona Lisa
• Newsflash: "Scientists Figure Out Why Mona Lisa Smiles"
• More fun with Mona Lisa

FYI: "Renaissance Virtual Reality"

*Michelle's Mental Clutter*: Renaissance Virtual Reality

Assignment Calendar for February

Thursday, February 2 - The Renaissance

Reading Assignment:

• Hunt, pp. 452-465;
• Lualdi, pp. 6-10 (plus prepare responses to "Discussion Questions")

Tuesday, February 7 - The Glory of Renaissance Art

• T.B.A.

Thursday, February 9 - Reformations

Reading Assignment:

• Hunt, pp. 475-486.

Tuesday, February 14 - Catholic-Reformation Baroque Art

• Lualdi, 11-19 (plus prepare responses to "Discussion Questions");
• Kamen, "Spanish Inquisition";
• Wiesner, "Nuns,Wives, and Mothers";
• Davis, "Rites of Violence" in Social Dimensions, Vol. I

Reading Assignment:

• Hunt, pp. 513-516

Thursday, February 16 - Voyages of Exploration or Exploitation?

Reading Assignment:

• Hunt, pp. 466-473;
• Diamond, "Hemispheres Colliding" in Social Dimensions, Vol. II;
• T.B.A.

Tuesday, February 21 - NO CLASS - Presidents' Day Break

Thursday, February 23 - NO CLASS - Professor at conference

Tuesday, February 27 - Magic & the Scientific Revolution

Reading Assignment:

• Hunt, pp. 518-525;
• Lualdi, pp. 19-22 (plus prepare responses to "Discussion Questions");
• Briggs, "The Witch-Figure and the Sabbat" in Social Dimensions, Vol. I

FYI - Chocolate's role in Medici rule

ANSA.it - News in English - Chocolate's role in Medici rule

Get a load of the size of David's head!!

The accompanying "news" is fake... but just check out the scale!!

For Class: Michelangelo setting sculptures free...

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

-Michelangelo

See exactly what he meant in this unfinished work here!

FYI - Newsflash: "King Tut slain by sword in the knee"

King Tut slain by sword in the knee