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Essay on Luca Signorelli vs. Michelangelo Buonarroti
“The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image.” - Michelangelo Buonarroti
From the Renaissance age came a Romantic Movement of artists. While Impressionism was the artwork of choice, Expressionism was soon the artist's medium. Instead of painting the still-life figures of everyday life, Expressionism broke the boundaries of technical style to the expression of emotions and deep personal revelations.
For centuries, the topic of eschatology (the study of the very end of time) has raised many questions for people all over the world. Individuals, whether common lay people or highly educated theologians, have struggled to make sense of the obscure texts in the Bible, especially the Book of Revelation, that are relevant to this issue. People have tried to understand the biblical ambiguities in many ways, varying from objective study to subjective meditation, from literal interpretations to artistic depictions. Depending on the political, social and economic situations of the time, a historical crisis (such as religious persecution) provides motivation for individuals to delve into the mysteries of apocalyptic. In examining apocalyptic art from three distinct periods, the Medieval, Renaissance and Modern eras, we need also to note the historical events of the times.
Luca Signorelli and Chapel of San Brizio
Luca Signorelli, on 5 April 1499, signed a contract with Orvieto Cathedral: he was to paint the two remaining sections of the ceiling of the Chapel of San Brizio, a large Gothic construction built around 1408. In the summer of 1447 Fra Angelico, assisted by Gozzoli and several other minor artists, had painted a fresco of the Prophets in one of the triangular ceiling vanes and Christ the Judge in another. Half a century later Signorelli's task was to complete the fresco decoration begun by Angelico....
