Abstract
Michelangelo based the design of the architectural frame of the Sistine Chapel ceiling on an underdrawing in a watercolor by Piermatteo d’Amelia, but he chose to subdivide it into nine bays. He then depicted the biblical story of Creation in five, rather than six, pictorial fields and made references to the number five in the fresco. This structure was intended to allude to the five Platonic bodies, which are a further development of the four elements and, according to Plato, explain the creation of the world. In the views of Augustine and of Christian Neoplatonists, there are close similarities between the creation story and the creation process as described in Plato’s Timaeus. They believed that Plato had imitated the story of Genesis. The remaining four panels would then symbolize the history of the human race and the classic four elements.
Abbildungsnachweis: 1, 10 Creative Commons, Evangeliums.net (letzter Zugriff am 25. November 2018), Foto: Markus Mayer, bearb. durch den Verf. — 2, 11The Malermi Bible, 1490, Polonsky Foundation Digitalization Project, URL: http://bav.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/douce-244 (letzter Zugriff am 25. November 2018), bearb. durch den Verfasser. — 3 David Hornemann von Laer, Vom Geschöpf zum Schöpfer. Die Genesisfresken Michelangelos, Stuttgart 2009, 31. — 4a Charles Sala, Michelangelo: Pittore, Scultore, Architetto, Paris 2001, 61. — 4b Paolo Boroli (Hg.), La Capella Sistina. La volta restaurata: Il trionfo del colore, Novara 1992, 227. — 5a, 6a, 12a, 12b Edizioni Musei Vaticani, Michelangelo und Raffael im Vatican, Citta del Vaticano 1995, 93, 97 und 148. — 5b Wikimedia Commons (letzter Zugriff am 25. November 2018), Foto: Alessandro Marcoa. – 6b Buchholzschnitt, Berlin, Privatsammlung. — 7 Claudia la Malfa, Pinturicchio a Roma, La seduzione dell’antico, Mailand 2009, 70. — 8 Weil-Garris Brandt 1992 (wie Anm. 44), nummeriert vom Verf. — 9 Hartt 1991 (wie Anm. 85), 18, bearb. durch Verf.
© 2019 Otfried Garbe, published by De Gruyter
