The art world is buzzing about a new theory: did Michelangelo paint himself in the image of God in the famous Creation of Adam panel of the Sistine Chapel? I recently read the Hyperallergic article Is a Michelangelo Self-Portrait Hidden In His Famous Fresco? and it got me thinking…did he paint himself in the image of God? Was he really that self obbsessed? Michelangelo was such a religious us man, but also interested in Neo-Platonism and Humanism. Would he have dared?
Michelangelo had an ego, there is no doubt about that. He also was so sure of himself he never really spoke about his process or thoughts on his work.
We can only theoretically apply what we know of him to his works, and this surly is what is happening here with this new theory by Adriano Marinazzo, a scholar and Curator of Special Projects at the Muscarelle Museum of Art in Williamsburg, Virginia. He posed this new theory in a peer reviewed journal at the end of 2022 and has been gaining attention in the art world since.
As someone who is interested in Renaissance art, specifically with Michelangelo, I had to chime in on this one. I think it’s a plausible case to be had, but I can’t see Michelangelo portraying himself equal to that of God. Or, could he have? It is a grey area, but the evidence so far is slim to confirm he would.
As of now we are getting our evidence from a small sketch placed on the side of a sonnet written by Michelangelo about his feelings towards painting the ceiling (and how much he disliked it).
Originally, it has been thought this is a self portrait of the artist as he paints the ceiling. Which, was actually him standing and looking upwards with outstretched arm, painting above him as paint dripped on his face, beard and chest. Some of the lines he speaks of tell the story of his pain in painting the ceiling. Not only physically, but mentally.
My beard turns up to heaven; my nape falls in
Fixed on my spine: my breast-bone visibly
Grows like a harp: a rich embroidery
Bedews my face from brush-drops thick and thin
My loins into my paunch like levers grind:
My buttock like a crupper bears my weight
My feet unguided wander to and fro;
Astutely, Marinazzo saw that the stance Michelangelo draws himself standing in is very similar to that of the posture of God, how he twists his torso like Michelangelo describes his contorted torso in his sonnte, “By bending it becomes more taunt and strait; Crosswise I strain me like a Syrian bow.” I see the comparison in both of these images, of the sketch and of the final image of God. I can see where Marinazzo’s thoughts are headed.
However, Michelangelo was a deeply religious man, a catholic man, who saw the creation of humans in the image of God. But, not equal to God. I believe there is some merit to the body language of God and the sketch (and even in the Belvedere Torso for instance, I see relation between that fragment of antiquity in the image of God as well), but I do not think, at this time, it is a self-portrait of Michelangelo himself.
This idea is opening doors to questions I never thought about from Renaissance painters of the time. It is not a stretch to think about Michelangelo doing this. He did sign his Pieta in 1499 out of spite. He had the stamina and will power to do that, he may have had the audacity to portray himself as the creator of all man kind.
I think this new idea brings about new questions never explored before. I would love to venture into them more, and dig into this theory. I would love to see it become true. The cherry on the top of the payback cake, given to Julius II because of his commission of a sculpture, who hated to paint. A self identified “not-painter” who created one of the greatest feats of fresco painting to ever exist.
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