Sistine chapel restoration

The climax of the work was reached in April of with the ceremonial.

Sistine chapel restoration: The conservation-restoration of the frescoes of

Pope John Paul II celebrated a Mass in the chapel in honor of the event April 8,using the opportunity to highlight the theology enshrined in Michelangelo's frescoes. The decision to clean Michelangelo's paintings was made after examination of the lunette of Eleazar and Nathan detected tiny cracks in the color fabric of the whole ceiling.

They were caused by the shrinking of the covering of glue that pulled away the layers of originally luminous color. Previous restorers had used the glue to revive the frescoes darkened by dust and soot. After research, experiment, and a trial cleaning in June of on the figure of Eleazar, the frescoed surfaces of the ceiling in the Sistine were cleaned by a method using the solvent known as AB 57, applied briefly and removed with a sponge soaked in distilled water.

The few parts retouched by Michelangelo a secco after the plaster had set, thus sensitive to water were cleaned last with specific organic water solvents fixed with a solution of Paraloid B Watercolor was used for some modest pictorial restorations. Because Michelangelo had used the delicate lapis lazuli in coloring and a more a secco technique for the Last Judgment, it called for different cleaning methods, including washings with distilled water and treatments with a solution of water and ammonium carbonate.

All the stages of the work were scrupulously filmed.

Sistine chapel restoration: In the s and

The chapel was kept open for the public to see the progress of the enterprise since the scaffolding covered the ceiling frescoes only partially at any one time. The program of cleaning rid the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel of the polluting conditions chiefly responsible for their deterioration. To counter continuing pollution, however, experts decided to eschew the use of resinous or other protective substances on the frescoes, to install a conditioning system with a monitored annual cycle for air filtration, and to lay dust-retaining carpeting on the stairs leading to the Chapel from the Vatican Museums.

Michelangelo's Genius Rediscovered. During the cleaning, a photogrammetic survey of the ceiling and the Last Judgment revealed fresh details about their state of preservation and shed new light on Michelangelo's technical procedures and virtuosity. About 6, specialists and scholars from the fields of art and culture examined the outcome of the restoration carefully.

Many of them approved of the astonishing results, but some art historians reacted with strong criticism. The cleaning of the frescoes in the Sistine, originally both chapel and fortress, revealed long-lost or unobserved details of Michelangelo's work. The architectural design of the ceiling, which ingeniously divided one dramatic scene from another, became powerfully evident.

If his experiment had failed, none of the subsequent work would have been carried out. Cardinal Edmund Szoka, governor of Vatican City, said: "This restoration and the expertise of the restorers allows us to contemplate the paintings as if we had been given the chance of being present when they were first shown. It takes its present name from a restoration ordered by Pope Sixtus IV in He completed the famous ceiling frescoes in Links to other Europe stories are at the foot of the page.

Sistine chapel restoration: In this blog, we explore the

Authors grant the journal right of first publication. This journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4. See also our Open Access Policy. The historical importance of this restoration is found in the recovery of the unexpected chromatic tones used by Michelangelo and hidden for centuries by the dust, black smoke and grease produced by candles and braziers, and by the animal glue, gum resin and ox bile used by restorers in the past to revive the colors.

The important result was obtained without any risk, thanks to developments in the field of methods and materials, the progress made in diagnostics, and the elaboration of a theory of restoration Brandi C. The intervention also regarded the marble parts, that is the cantoria, the screen and the coat of arms of Sixtus IV. The Conclave for the election of the Supreme Pontiff is held in the Chapel.

It is again the words of the Homily pronounced by His Holiness John Paul II that underline the primary importance of the Sistine Chapel in the life of the Church: "The Sistine Chapel is the place that, for each Pope, holds the memory of a special day in his life. Precisely here, in this sacred space, the Cardinals gather, awaiting the manifestation of the will of Christ with regard to the person of the Successor of St Peter [ And here, in a spirit of obedience to Christ and trusting in his Mother, I accepted the election that sprung from the Conclave, declaring [ Thus therefore the Sistine Chapel became once again before the whole Catholic Community the place of the action of the Holy Spirit that nominates the Bishops in the Church, and nominates especially he who must be the Bishop of Rome and the Successor of Peter".

Sistine Chapel.