MICHAELANGELO: The Last Judgement
The story behind the painting of ‘The Last Judgement’ has been quite a piecing of facts. It appears to have been created for all believers to learn NOT what to do.
Guest Author: Laurie Penner
JUDGEMENT & MICHELANGELO
I’m putting a 1,000-piece puzzle together of Michaelangelo’s famous “The Last Judgment.” After hours and days of staring at hints of colors and forms of each piece ... curiosity got the better of me, and I started to wonder about the meaning of the painting and, along with Jesus Christ our Lord. The over 300 muscular figures Michaelangelo included in his masterpiece.
Before I begin this article, I would like to thank the Lord for yet another opportunity to write. Over the past while, I have been occupied with ‘life’, and the events of the world—so many changes in these post-pandemic years. To add to the weight of change, our youngest found herself in the middle of a war in Israel and only recently made her way to a safe country.
Our two other daughters are wrestling with major challenges, and my husband and I have picked up and moved… a few times.
I certainly can relate with Apostle Paul when he exclaimed in 2 Timothy 4:6. “My life is like a drink offering being poured out onto the alter.”
Well, with working away on this puzzle, He has heard my plea and responded piece by piece within this puzzle before me.
The story behind the painting of ‘The Last Judgement’ has been quite a piecing together of facts. It appears to have been created between the years 1535-1541. It was commissioned 25 years after Michaelangelo finished the Sistine Chapel Ceiling painting of ‘The Creation of Adam.’ As I probed into these facts, one article stood out, stating the artist was a much different man when he yet again offered his gifts of art to the Chapel.
Michaelangelo was brought up with a solid Catholic understanding of penance in which the debt of one’s sins could be reduced or completely forgiven by an offer of performance, good works, or charity (this idea of penance was created out of the 12 and 13 centuries theologians.), as well, added to this was the idea of monetary means to replace such works which was very much encouraged by the papal. In 1343 the Treasury of Merit was created by Pope Clement VI, a decree that all these good works and money sums were controlled by the pope. He would decide how much debt was still owed to cover a person’s sins. Michaelangelo like any other man born out of the Adamic nature would have had regular sins to tend to, and undoubtedly must have found himself with an abundance supply of ‘good works and performance’ towards the church in the talent of his paintings. We could call them a ‘guaranteed forgiveness of sins!’
As a young man, the artist painted ‘The Creation of Adam’ painting with God and man as both beautiful and even heroic. God creating man in His own image, two similar bodies were painted both strong and robust. Twenty-five years later, ‘The Last Judgement’s’, some 300 figures, in contrast, were painted with ill proportions, where heads were made too small for their bodies. Men and women were both presented as overly muscular, whose poses assumed ugliness and awkwardness. It was described as “A painting full of emotional fury in the gestures of the figures, emphasizing their vulnerability in the midst of chaos around them.”
It is said in the latter years of his life, Michaelangelo was questioning the fate of his soul. He included in this painting, a self-portrait in ‘the skin’ of St. Bartholomew and had it hovering precariously over hell and midway in a diagonal line between Christ and the famous image of a man who has just realized that he is being pulled down towards hell.
To note, he also painted the saints taken to heaven, to the right of Jesus, and to His left, the cursed being beaten down to hell. This image was common over church doors at that time.
What had brought this painter to such a drastic change of perspective between the two paintings? Many pieces of facts to fit together! It does appear that this once man of idealistic purity found himself over the 25 years… with what I would call… being “fleshed out” by his flesh and others.
Upon completion of ‘The Creation of Adam,’ Michaelangelo left Rome and traveled to Florence, where he took up with the Medici family. He was commissioned by this prestigious and highly fluent family to provide his talents to a chapel in their name. The Medici Chapel was to be the resting place for two young members of the family who had met with untimely death.
As the years passed, the Medicis became the rulers of the land. During Michaelangelo’s stay, a response to their rule, a revolt by the people of Florence against the family, resulted in their exile. A Republic was formed and though there isn’t much information on the details, Michaelangelo served as a supervisor of fortifications of this movement, which was unfortunately short lived.
After a time, the Medici family returned to Florence and their previous standing in the land. Michaelangelo found himself, having been disloyal to the family... very concerned for his safety. It didn’t help that, back in Rome, Pope Clement VII was furious with his disgraceful conduct and ordered a death sentence upon the artist’s head.
Michaelangelo went into hiding. For two months, the artist remained in a secret room underneath the Medici Chapel, a room that was only discovered by accident in 1975. During his stay, the artist had sketched and doodled over all four walls of the small enclosure. On November 15, 2023, this ‘secret room’ will be made available under very controlled viewing (to prevent too much light exposure on the drawings) and open to the public.
Eventually pardoned by the Medici family and Clement VII‘s death sentence lifted, Michaelangelo became a free man. He was then commissioned by the forgiving pope to return to Rome to begin his masterpiece of “The Last Judgement.”
The year was 1534.
Such exposure to man’s flesh!
Beside this time of unrest in Michaelangelo’s life, two more significant events took place that could contribute his confusion of the understandings of God.
The first was Martin Luther’s ‘Ninety-Five Theses.’ In 1517, this priest of German descent presented his theological beliefs by nailing them to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. Within these Theses, it was strongly stated salvation was not by works but by faith alone.
God used Luther and the monk’s exasperation of the church system of monetary payment for indulgences of one’s sins (as well as those presumed in purgatory). One Domian friar in Germany, Johann Tetzel, was credited for hawking indulgences for the dead by saying ‘When a penny in the coffer rings/ a soul in purgatory springs. Luther’s great response blew the lid off the system, destroying the papal control with the following statement, Number 82 of the Theses.
“As an example, why does not the pope liberate everyone from purgatory for the sake of love (a most holy thing) and because of the supreme necessity of their souls? This would be morally the best reason. Meanwhile, he redeems innumerable souls for money, a most perishable thing, with which to build St. Peter’s church, a very minor purpose.”
By 1520 Luther came to full realization of the great and liberating theological message he was to share to the world. Salvation is free, and one does not have to do anything much less pay anything to obtain it.
This was the beginning of the Reformation and the Protestant Church.
How this revelation of God’s truth affected Michaelangelo, we can only imagine.
When the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, called a meeting (The Diet of Worms) with Martin Luther in 1521, and requested that Luther renounce or reaffirm his views. If not, he would be charged with 41 instances of deviation from the teaching and practice of the church.
Charles V thought Luther’s Theses was a heresy and wanted Luther outlawed. Charles went on to state… ”I will use my dominions, possessions, friends, body, blood, life, and soul to defend the Catholic faith.”
The second event was found in ‘The ‘Sack of Rome.’ The year was 1527, and the same Charles V, placed terms over Pope Clements head, to crown him Holy Roman Emperor. He threatened the city of Rome by positioning his army of 20,000. The army then took the initiative to attack with a full-on slaughter (not ordered by Charles.) The war lasted nine months and saw the city’s population decrease tragically from 55,000 to 10,000. Approximately 45,0000 Romans were affected in the siege where an estimated 6-12,000 were murdered, others fled. A plague that followed killed off the rest.
Surprisingly, the majority of Charles’ army comprised 14,000 Lutherans, followers of his once-proclaimed enemy of the church just six years earlier.
We have surpassed confusion in all of this and should not be surprised by Michaelangelo being to the point of ‘Fleshing out.’
Scripture tells after the flesh (efforts being done in one’s own strength or talents for God) or in the spirit (in Christ alone.) It would be easily accepted that Michaelangelo’s talents were God-given, but his motivation (doing it FOR God) was true of the flesh.
The artist experienced extreme measures of flesh in the 25 years between his two paintings - between the Medici, Pope Clement VII, and Charles V.
This, coupled with the teachings of Luther, could only bring an uncomfortable discernment in his understanding of God.
The idea of walking in the spirit really didn’t have anything to do with his gifts of talent or time.
The following Solas were not exactly Reformation slogans, but they served as a good summary of the Reformed faith.
Solus Scriptura: Scripture alone. The Holy Spirit, working through the Word. RCC stated there were more—the Pope, church council, collective majesterium of the RCC.
Solus Christus: Christen alone. RCC church included Mary.
Solus Gratia: By grace alone. RCC stated works, gifts, charity, performance, and money.
Soli Fide: By faith alone. RCC again stated works, gifts, charity, performance, and money.
Soli Deo Gloria: To the Glory of God Alone
In the book of John, the purpose laid out in chapter 3:20-31 is:
“That you BELIEVE Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by BELIEVING you may have Life in His name.”
The Life John spoke of is the very Life of Christ, Eternal Life. The salvation of man, being the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, hope of heaven and here on earth, the source of one’s life being the very Life of God.
To give each believer His Life, Jesus Christ had to take out of the believer what would get in His way. The very spirit of each man, woman, and child is born with. The spirit of our forefather Adam. In inheriting his spirit. Each one is born with a dead spirit to God. Romans 5:12
Jesus took care of this ‘old man’ on the Cross of Calvary, and when Jesus died, the power source of each believer’s flesh was no more.
The old man was put to death. Romans 6:6. Galatians 2:20
When Christ was buried, each believer, too, was buried in Him. Romans 6:4
When Christ arose, each believer arose in Him. Romans 6:4-5
A new spirit was given to the believer that is united with the Holy Spirit of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:13
When Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives, each believer ascended in Him. Ephesians 2:6
The Bible talks about levels of our ascension in Him.
2 Corinthians 12:2
Michaelangelo included levels in his ‘Last Judgement painting.’ Was this discernment from God?
In the ‘Last Judgment’ painting, Michaelangelo positioned Christ at the center.
The RCC (Roman Catholic Church) took great offense to this and that the church was not included. In their opposed response, they canceled his pension.
One may ponder the accuracy of the placement of our Saviour. Christ is our center, our source - the Veil in which to follow Him through. For He suffered and died to tear His flesh, to tear the Veil that the believer would follow Him through and into the Holy of Holies. Scripture tells us Jesus Christ; the High Priest greets each believer made a priest. Revelation 5:10
As all the pieces of this puzzle of facts are put together, I wonder how the whole ‘Truth of the Gospel’ would have influenced Michaelangelo and his masterpiece ‘The Last Judgment.’
I do not doubt my capabilities of completing my puzzle of Michaelangelo’s painting in due time, and I thank God that in my limited humanism I am not capable of understanding God’s Will for the artist, but trust that He held his child exactly where he was... to paint exactly what he did.
I am also thankful I have been given the comfort in Christ alone. BELIEVE.