Sun-symbolism and cosmology in Michelangelo's Last Judgment
Date
1991
Authors
Shrimplin-Evangelidis, Valerie
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Abstract
Although the perception of the design of Michelangelo's Last Judgment as
dependent upon a basically circular composition around the figure of Christ has
generally been observed in the literature, no sailsfactory explanation of this has
been presented. In the following hypothesis, a cosmological interpretation of
Michelangelo's Last Judgment proposes new sources for the circular design of the
fresco around a central Apollonian Sun-Christ.
After. an outline of the basic nature of the problem, an examination of
earlier examples of the Last Judgment demonstrates the cosmological associations
of the traditional iconography of the subject, primarily related to the hierarchical
implications! of the 'flat-earth theory,' which places Heaven above and Hell
beneath the earth's surface. Close formal analysis of Michelangelo's own version
of the Last Judgment, which emphasizes the innovative aspects of its organisation,
is then followed by an assessment of various existing interpretations of the work.
In then examining the type of Sources which appear likely to have contributed to
the final programme of the work, different areas of religious, literary and
philosophical material are brought under consideration.
In order to resolve the meaning of the fresco's iconography and
composition, the influences upon Michelangelo of the Catholic religion and
Reform thought, of the writings of Dante, and of Florentine Neoplatonism have
been examined in an entirely new way, from a cosmologicalpoint of view, which
brings to light their common emphasis on the Sun as a eymbol of the Deity. A
new area of potential source material, that of contemporary scientific cosmology,
has also been considered. Prevailing knowledge of Copernicus' theory of the
Sun-centred universe, hitherto dismissed as a possible direct influence by
renowned writers like Charles de Tolnay, on the grounds of chronology, is
specifically discussed and found to be securely documented in Vatican circles at
the time of the commission. Thus the sources finally proposed for the overall
theme of Sun-symbolism and Cosmologyin the fresco are found to 'be dependent
upon the common. ground shared between the Catholic Reformation revival of the
traditional Christian analogy between the Deity and the Sun, the Neoplatonic
cult of Sun-symholism, literary sources in Dante and the scientific theory of
heliocentricity, as developed by Copernicus.
Against this background of the History of Ideas in the Renaissance period,
consideration of art historical methods leads to the suggestion of a newly proposed
Biblical source for the fresco and, finally)l discussion of the deductive method of
art historical intterpretation suggests the broader implications of the hypothesls,
Ii
both for the life and work at Michelangelo himself as well as for the/!
sixteenth-century 'context of the fresco's creation.
Description
A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy, 1991
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Citation
Shrimplin-Evangelidis, Valerie (1991) Sun-symbolism and cosmology in Michelangelo's Last Judgment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/22817>