Reflection 2

My favorite thing we saw today was the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. Even after watching the movie about Michelangelo's experience painting the ceiling, I did not expect it to be so breathtaking. My first impression was that I did not realize it would appear so 3D. The image of Jonah with the whale seemed to be actually falling out of the picture. Professor White had said that he was supposed to look like he was about to fall onto the alter, but I thought the fresco would just be above the alter. All throughout the ceiling there were images of angels hanging onto pillars, which truly looked like they were three dimensional. That is the part that surprised me the most. 

It was very helpful to be able to stop outside with the pictures, and have Professor White explain some of the images we were going to see inside. For example, I had not realized that there was a progression from one end to the other, showing the creation and fall of man. Seeing the images of God creating Adam and Eve and then watching them sin was much more understandable after getting the explanation. Additionally, I learned that there were many pagan oracles interspersed in the frescos, which demonstrated the shift during the Reniasance back to the art of antiquity. The idea was that God gave them their abilities, but they did not yet understand it to be the Christian God. Finally, I thought it was meaningful that Eve is a representation of the church. Professor White said that Eve being created from Adam's rib was purposefully in the center of the ceiling, because it signified the church being born out of Christ. It seems weird that they would have the original sinner equated with the church, but maybe that is connected with the idea that Jesus had to die for everyone's sins. Overall, the imagery we saw in the Sistine Chapel was breathtaking, and I'm glad I got to experience that on this trip.