Rome.info > Creation of Adam, Michelangelo Rome.info » Michelangelo in Rome » Sistine ceiling » creation of Adam Creation of Adam, Michelangelo The panel of The Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel must be one of the most known images in the world. Completed by Michelangelo circa 1511, it depicts God the father creating Adam, the first man and was amongst the last panels to be completed, telling the story of Genesis. The focal point of the episode of the Creation of Adam painting is the contact between the fingers of God and those of Adam, through which the breath of life is transmitted. By not painting the fingers of God and Adam touching and leaving a small space between the two, Michelangelo creates a tingling tension, an anticipation of that wonderous moment, as we all wait for God to complete his Creation of Adam. Michelangelo’s languid Adam was probably inspired by Ghiberti’s Adam on his Doors of Paradise of the baptistery in Florence. Whereas in his, The Creation of Eve, Michelangelo borrows heavily from Jacopo della Quercia’s version on the portal of San Petronio in Bologna.

In the Eve panel Michelangelo did not use foreshortening, making the figures difficult to see clearly from the floor of the chapel. In the Creation of Adam, the great artist addresses this problem, with an obvious focus on the enlarged figures of God and Adam. The painting of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam only took two to three weeks to complete, while the actual painting of Adam took Michelangelo only four days! An admiring Vasari (1511 – 1574) gasped with amazement and said, “a figure of such a kind in its beauty, in the attitude and in the outlines, that it appears as if newly fashioned by the first and supreme Creator rather than by the brush and design of mortal man.” Today we see the Creation of Adam as a masterpiece within a masterpiece. Michelangelo's 'Creation of Adam', Sistine chapel ceiling in Vatican Museums. 7 Things You May Not Know About the Sistine Chapel - History in the Headlines 7 Things You May Not Know About the Sistine Chapel November 1, 2012 By Jennie Cohen Share What does it mean to be a "Renaissance Man"?

Get the history of the Renaissance as told by musician and artist Jeffrey Lewis. Share this: 7 Things You May Not Know About the Sistine Chapel Author 7 Things You May Not Know About the Sistine Chapel URL Google On November 1, 1512, the majestic ceiling frescoes adorning Rome’s Sistine Chapel were unveiled to the public. Painted by a rising young sculptor named Michelangelo, they remain one of the Italian Renaissance’s most iconic masterpieces, with 5 million neck-craning tourists peering at their beauty each year. Below, check out seven surprising facts about the famous ceiling and the artist who painted it. 1. Michelangelo wanted nothing to do with the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. In 1508, 33-year-old Michelangelo was hard at work on Pope Julius II’s marble tomb, a relatively obscure piece now located in Rome’s San Pietro in Vincoli church. When Julius asked the esteemed artist to switch gears and decorate the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, Michelangelo balked. For one thing, he considered himself a sculptor rather than a painter, and he had no experience whatsoever with frescoes.

He also had his heart set on finishing the tomb, even as funding for the project dwindled. Nevertheless, Michelangelo reluctantly accepted the commission, spending four years of his life perched on scaffolding with his brush in hand. He would return intermittently to Julius’ monumental tomb over the next few decades. The Sistine Chapel ceiling’s most famous panel, entitled “The Creation of Adam.” 2. Contrary to popular belief, Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel in a standing position. When they picture Michelangelo creating his legendary frescoes, most people assume he was lying down. But in fact, the artist and his assistants used wooden scaffolds that allowed them to stand upright and reach above their heads. Michelangelo himself designed the unique system of platforms, which were attached to the walls with brackets. The impression that Michelangelo painted on his back might come from the 1965 film “The Agony and the Ecstasy,” in which Charlton Heston portrayed the genius behind the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. Sections of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. 3. Working on the Sistine Chapel was so unpleasant that Michelangelo wrote a poem about his misery.

In 1509, an increasingly uncomfortable Michelangelo described the physical strain of the Sistine Chapel project to his friend Giovanni da Pistoia. “I’ve already grown a goiter from this torture,” he wrote in a poem that was surely somewhat tongue-in-cheek. He went on to complain that his “stomach’s squashed under my chin,” that his “face makes a fine floor for droppings,” that his “skin hangs loose below me” and that his “spine’s all knotted from folding myself over.” He ended with an affirmation that he shouldn’t have changed his day job: “I am not in the right place—I am not a painter.” 4. Michelangelo’s masterpiece has proven highly resilient. The Sistine Chapel’s frescoed ceiling has held up remarkably well in the five centuries since its completion. Only one small component is missing: part of the sky in the panel depicting Noah’s escape from the great biblical flood. The section of painted plaster fell to the floor and shattered following an explosion at a nearby gunpowder depot in 1797.

Despite the ceiling’s apparent hardiness, experts worry that foot traffic from the millions of people who visit the Sistine Chapel each year continues to pose a serious threat. 5. Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel art was touched up—and stripped down—in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1980 and 1999, experts restored selected artwork in the Sistine Chapel, including Michelangelo’s ceiling and his famed fresco known as “The Last Judgment,” which he created in his later years. Specialists meticulously dissolved layers of grime, soot and deposits, substantially brightening the colors of the centuries-old paintings. The restoration also undid the work of Pope Pius IV, who ordered the placement of fig leaves and loincloths on Michelangelo’s nudes during the 1560s. 6. The Sistine Chapel ceiling’s most famous panel might depict a human brain. In the section entitled “The Creation of Adam,” figures representing God and Adam reach for each other with their arms outstretched. Their almost-touching fingers are one of the world’s most recognizable and widely replicated images.

Some theorists think the scene also contains the unmistakable outline of a human brain, formed by the angels and robes surrounding God. According to Frank Lynn Meshberger, a doctor who pioneered this hypothesis, Michelangelo meant to evoke God’s bestowal of intellegence on the first human. 7. New popes are elected in the Sistine Chapel. Built in the 1470s under Pope Sixtus IV, from whom it takes its name, the Sistine Chapel is more than just Vatican City’s most popular tourist destination. In fact, it serves a crucial religious function. Beginning in 1492, the simple brick building has hosted numerous papal conclaves, during which cardinals gather to vote on a new pope. A special chimney in the roof of the chapel broadcasts the conclave’s results, with white smoke indicating the election of a pope and black smoke signaling that no candidate has yet received a two-thirds majority. Tags The Michelangelo Code The Michelangelo Code by Rabbi Benjamin Blech In the heart of the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel is the site of the conclave where every new pope is elected. It is without doubt the holiest chapel in the Christian world, and draws more than 4 million visitors per year.

Most of the world knows it best for its magnificent frescoes painted by the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. What has remained a little-known secret, however, is that within this citadel of Christianity lies perhaps the greatest subversive act in the history of art. Almost none of the visitors who enter the Sistine realize that they are gazing upon secret messages embedded by Michelangelo in his artistic masterpiece. They would certainly be surprised to learn that, in the pope's own chapel, Michelangelo employed these secret messages to advocate for a revolutionary change in Christianity's relationship to Judaism, and that the code itself was rooted in the Jewish tradition. Michelangelo became fascinated with Midrash and Kabbalah as a teenager, studying with private tutors provided by his patron, Lorenzo de' Medici. Using his knowledge of Judaism and its mystical symbols, he later incorporated messages, via painted images, on the chapel's walls dangerously contrary to the teachings of the Church. In this way, he criticized the corrupt spiritual leadership of the time, and condemned the Church's failure to acknowledge its debt to Jewish origins.

Expressed 500 years before the more liberal contemporary theology of Pope John Paul II and "The Good Pope," John XXIII, discovery of his secret code and heretical views might have cost Michelangelo his life. When I first heard these claims from Roy Doliner, a Jewish docent and scholar of the humanities who has been leading tours of the Sistine Chapel for close to a decade, I assumed they were too incredible to be true. Only after he shared with me his diligent research (after which I performed a great deal of scholarly sleuthing on my own) did I became thoroughly convinced of their legitimacy. I eventually co-authored a book with Roy, " The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican, " which was released earlier this year. To our great delight, the book is already beginning to alter the way scholars interpret the work of Michelangelo, sparking vigorous, and sometimes heated, debate. "Just as the work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel changed forever the world of art, so will this book change forever the way to view and, above all, to understand the work of Michelangelo," said Enrico Bruschini, official art historian for the U.S.

Embassy in Rome and a leading expert on the art of Rome and the Vatican. A true Renaissance man, Michelangelo was at home in philosophy as well as art; in Christian theology as well as Jewish mysticism. However, those who have studied his work in the past generally have not been conversant with the wide corpus of knowledge that forged him as an artist. Most Sistine Chapel scholars were not well-versed in Judaism and Kabbalah; it was impossible for them to fully grasp the artist's allusions. By combining the scholarship of our respective fields, Roy and I, the docent and the Orthodox rabbi, were able to uncover secrets long buried in Michelangelo's frescos. From the start, Michelangelo had a personal agenda different from that of his patron. In 1508, we know that Pope Julius II ordered Michelangelo to re-plaster and paint the crumbling ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a demeaning job at that time for any great artist, and especially for Michelangelo, who detested painting and lived only to sculpt.

The pope gave him a simple design, a very standard and banal layout of Jesus and Mary at the two ends of the ceiling, surrounded by the Apostles and a common design of geometric shapes in the center. The artist refused, and fought with the pope who, sick and distracted, finally let him develop his own plan. Imagine the surprise of the pope and the viewers when the completed project was unveiled four and a half years later: Ninety-five percent of the Chapel was adorned with heroes and heroines of the Jewish Bible. The rest was filled with pagan sibyls and naked boys. In the 12,000 square feet of the world's largest fresco, there was not a single Christian figure to be found. The only nod to the Gospels - and one of the ways Michelangelo managed to save both his life and the painting - was a barely-noticeable series of names of the Jewish ancestors of Jesus that do not even appear in chronological order. Why did Michelangelo disobey the pope in this way? Michelangelo had a hidden agenda: to remind the Church that its roots were grounded in the Torah given to the Jewish people.

Michelangelo had a hidden agenda: to remind the Church that its roots were grounded in the Torah given to the Jewish people. This insight, which he inserted throughout his work, is only now beginning to receive attention in contemporary scholarship. It is also showing up in the popular media. Time magazine's March 24 cover story, "10 Ideas That Are Changing the World," singled out what scholars are now calling "Re-Judaizing Jesus" as the most powerful idea in the field of religion. Michelangelo's frescos emphasize the universality of God and the kinship of all mankind by beginning the pictorial narrative with the Creation story of Genesis, not with the birth of Jesus. To a Church that preached exclusionism and stressed Divine love for only a limited number of His children, Michelangelo emphasized tolerance of all faiths, even the despised Jews of his time. One fresco exemplifying this idea is the portrait of Aminadab, father of Nachshon, which appears above the elevated area where the pope sat on his throne. Hebrew scholars know that Aminadab's Hebrew name means, "from my people, a prince." But the Church interprets a "prince of the Jews" to refer directly to Jesus.

Michelangelo positioned Aminadab, "Prince of the Jews," as surrogate for Jesus himself. This is one of the extremely rare figures painted by Michelangelo sitting perfectly upright, looking forward, a signal by the artist that the figure is, indeed, noteworthy. Moreover, a bright yellow circle, a ring of cloth sewn onto a garment appears on Aminadab's upper left arm. (This detail was not revealed for modern audiences until the frescoes were restored in 2001.) This patch displays the badge of shame forced on the Jews of Europe by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 and the Inquisition during the 15th Century. Here, directly over the head of the pope, the Vicar of Christ, Michelangelo was reminding the Church that Jesus was a Jew. He was condemning the Church for its shameful treatment of the Jews, from whom Jesus was born. This was a courageous statement. His veiled messages were painted at a time when the Talmud and other Jewish sacred texts were being burned all over Europe, the Inquisition was operating at full strength and the Jewish people had just been expelled from Spain in 1492.

Michelangelo had the courage to challenge the papal court, asking via the symbols of his painting, "Is this how you treat the very family of Our Lord?" Michelangelo's contempt for the Church's treatment of Jews went further to insult the pope himself via an almost imperceptible gesture of Aminadab. Almost hidden in shadow, this surrogate for Jesus is subtly making "devil's horns" with his fingers, which point downward toward the very spot where Pope Julius' richly embroidered ceremonial canopy would have been, over the papal throne. In somewhat similar manner, in another fresco placed over the original chapel portal through which Pope Julius entered, Michelangelo depicts the prophet Zechariah with the pope's own face. Over his shoulder one can see a little angel with his fingers curled in a way to make an obscene gesture known in Italy as "giving the fig." In the symbolism of the Sistine Chapel frescoes, instead of shame and persecution, inclusiveness and acknowledgement of Divine Favor are the qualities Michelangelo advocates for the Church's treatment of the Jews.

We have an even more powerful indication of Michelangelo's philo-Semitism in his later work, "The Last Judgment." In it, a golden-haired angel robed in red poses directly over Jesus' head and points at two men within a group known as the "Righteous Souls," a collection of figures who represent those privileged to spend eternity in a state of bliss with Jesus as reward for their deeds on earth. Michelangelo portrays both of these men as Jews, a potentially blasphemous act. One wears the two-pointed cap that the Church forced Jewish males to wear to reinforce the medieval prejudice that Jews, being spawned of the Devil, had horns. This figure is shown speaking to the other older Jew as he points one finger upward, indicating the One-ness of God. The other figure wears a yellow cap of shame; during the 13th century, the Church ordered Jewish men in Italy to wear such caps in public. In front of the two figures, a woman, her hair modestly covered, whispers in the ear of a nude youth before her.

The youth resembles Michelangelo's young tutor, Pico della Mirandola, who owned the largest Kabbalah library in the world at the time, and who taught the young artist secrets of Jewish mysticism as he infused within him a life-long respect for the Jewish people. In granting Jews a place in heaven with Jesus, the 16th century Michelangelo took a then-blasphemous stand on an issue which still provokes heated debate among Christians in the 21st century. His depiction of those granted Divine Favor clearly contravened official Church doctrine, which maintained that Jews could never hope to have a Heavenly reward. Michelangelo defined genius as "eternal patience." This year, the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo starting his work on the Sistine ceiling, we have finally "cracked" his "code," and his insights, ingeniously concealed in his work, can at last be heard. Michelangelo's Paintings In The Sistine Chapel Michelangelo's Paintings In The Sistine Chapel ( Originally Published 1920 ) THE ceiling of the Sistine Chapel contains the most perfect works done by Michelangelo in his long and active life.

Herehis great spirit appears in its noblest dignity, in its highest purity; here the attention is not disturbed by that arbitrary display to which his great power not unfrequently seduced him in other works. The ceiling forms a flattened arch in its section: the central portion, which is a plain surface, contains a series of large and small pictures, representing the most important events recorded in the book of Genesis-the Creation and Fall of Man, with its immediate consequences. In the large triangular compartments at the springing of the vault are sitting figures of the Prophets and Sibyls, as the foretellers of the coming of the Saviour. In the soffits of the recesses between these compartments, and in the arches underneath, immediately above the windows, are the ancestors of the Virgin, the series leading the mind directly to the Saviour. The external connection of these numerous representations is formed by an architectural framework of peculiar composition, which encloses the single subjects, tends to make the principal masses conspicuous, and gives to the whole an appearance of that solidity and support so necessary, but so seldom attended to, in soffit decorations, which may be considered as if suspended.

A great number of figures are also connected with the framework; those in unimportant situations are executed in the color of stone or bronze; in the more important, in natural colors. These serve to support the architectural forms, to fill up and to connect the whole. This may be best described as the living and embodied genii of architecture. It required the unlimited power of an architect, sculptor, and painter to conceive a structural whole of so much grandeur, to design the decorative figures with the significant repose required by the sculpturesque character, and yet to pre-serve their subordination to the principal subjects, and to keep the latter in the proportion and relations best adapted to the space to be filled."-Kugler, p. 301. The pictures from the Old Testament, beginning from the altar, are : 1. The Separation of Light and Darkness. 2. The Creation of the Sun and Moon. 3. The Creation of Trees and Plants. 4. The Creation of Adam. 5. The Creation of Eve. 6. The Fall and the Expulsion from Paradise. 7. The Sacrifice of Noah. 8. The Deluge. 9. The Intoxication of Noah.

"The scenes from Genesis are the most sublime representations of these subjects;-the Creating Spirit is unveiled before us. The peculiar type which the painter has here given of the form of the Almighty Father has been frequently imitated by his followers, and even by Raffaelle, but has been surpassed by none. Michelangelo has represented Him in majestic flight, sweeping through the air, surrounded by genii, partly supporting, partly borne along with Him, covered by His floating drapery; they are the distinct syllables, the separate virtues of His creating word. In the first (large) compartment we see Him with extended hands, assigning to the sun and moon their respective paths. In the second, He awakens the first man to life. Adam lies stretched on the verge of the earth, in the act of raising himself ; the Creator touches him with the point of His finger, and appears thus to endow him with feeling and life. This picture displays a wonderful depth of thought in the composition, and the utmost elevation and majesty in the general treatment and execution. The third subject is not less important, representing the Fall of Man and his Expulsion from Paradise.

The tree of knowledge stands in the midst, the serpent (the upper part of the body being that of a woman) is twined around the stem; she bends down towards the guilty pair, who are in the act of plucking the forbidden fruit. The figures are nobly graceful, particularly that of Eve. Close to the serpent hovers the angel with the sword, ready to drive the fallen beings out of Paradise. In this double action. this union of two separate moments, there is something peculiarly poetic and significant; it is guilt and punishment in one picture. The sudden and lightning-like appearance of the avenging angel behind the demon of darkness has a most impressive effect."-Kugler, p. 304. "Pheidias created tranquil Divinities; Michelangelo, suffering Heroes."-Goethe. The lower portion of the ceiling is divided into curvilinear triangular spaces occupied by the Prophets and Sibyls in solemn contemplation, accompanied by angels and genii. Beginning from the left of the entrance, their order is: 1. Joel. 6. Sibylla Libyca. 2. Sibylla Erythraea. 7. Daniel. 3. Ezekiel.

8. Sibylla Cumaea. 4. Sibylla Persica. 9. Isaiah. 5. Jonah. 10. Sibylla Delphica. "The Prophets and Sibyls in the triangular compartments of the curved portion of the ceiling are the largest figures in the whole work; these, too, are among the most wonderful forms that modern art has called into life. They are all represented seated, employed with books or rolled manuscripts : genii stand near or behind them. These mighty beings sit before us pensive, meditative, inquiring, or looking upwards with inspired countenances. Their forms and movements, indicated by the grand lines and masses of the drapery, are majestic and dignified. We see in them beings who, while they feel and bear the sorrows of a corrupt and sinful world, have power to look for consolation into the secrets of the future. Yet the greatest variety prevails in the attitudes and expression-each figure is full of individuality.

Zacharias is an aged man, busied in calm and circumspect investigation : Jeremiah is bowed down absorbed in thought the thought of deep and bitter grief ; Ezekiel turns with hasty movement to the genius next to him, who points upwards with. joyful expectation, etc. The Sibyls are equally characteristic': the Persian, a lofty, majestic woman, very aged; the Erythrsean-full of power, like the warrior-goddess of wisdom; the Delphic-like Cassandra, youthfully soft and graceful, but with strength to bear the awful seriousness of revelation."-Kugler, p. 304. "The belief of the Roman Catholic Church in the testimony of the Sibyl is shown by the well-known hymn, beginning with the verse: 'Dies irea, dies ilia, Solvet saeclum in favilla; Teste David cum Sibylla.' It may be inferred that this (fourteenth-century) hymn, admitted into the liturgy of the Roman Church, gave sanction to the adoption of the Sibyls into Christian art. They are seen from this time accompanying the prophets and apostles in the cyclical decorations of the Church. . . .

But the highest honor that art has rendered to the Sibyls has been by the hand of Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Here, in the conception of a mysterious Order of women, placed above and without all considerations of the graceful or the individual, the great master was peculiarly in his element. They exactly fitted his standard of art, not always sympathetic, nor comprehensible to the average human mind, of which the grand in form and the abstract in expression were the last and first conditions. In this respect the Sibyls on the Sistine ceiling are more Michelangelesque than their companions the Prophets. For these, while types of the highest monumental treatment, are yet men, while the Sibyls belong to a distinct class of beings, who convey the impression of the very obscurity in which their history is wrapt--creatures who have lived far from the abodes of men, who are alike devoid of the expression of feminine sweetness, human sympathy, or sacramental beauty; who are neither Christians nor Jewesses, Witches nor Graces, yet living, grand, beautiful, and true, according to laws revealed to the great Florentine genius only.

Thus their figures may be said to be unique, as the offspring of a peculiar sympathy between the master's mind and his subject. To this sympathy may be ascribed the prominence and size given them-both Prophets and Sibyls-ascompared to their usual relation to the subjects they environ. They sit here in twelve throne-like niches, more like presiding deities, each wrapped in self-contemplation, than as tributary witnesses to the truth and omnipotence of Him they are intended to announce. Thus they form a gigantic framework round the subjects of the Creation, of which the birth of Eve, as the type of the Nativity, is the intentional centre. For some reason, the twelve figures are not Prophets and Sibyls alternately-there being only five Sibyls to seven Prophets-so that the Prophets come together at one angle. Books and scrolls are given indiscriminately to them.

"The Sibylla Persica, supposed to be the oldest of the sisterhood, holds the book close to her eyes, as if from dimness of sight, which fact, contradicted as it is by a frame of obviously herculean strength, gives a mysterious intentness to the action. "The Sibylla Libyca, of equally powerful proportions, but less closely draped, is grandly bringing herself to lift a massive volume from a height above her head on to her knees. "The Sibylla Cummaea, also aged, and with her head covered, is reading with her volume at a distance from her eyes. "The Sibylla Delphica, with waving hair escaping from her turban, is a beautiful young being-the most human of all-gazing into vacancy or futurity. She holds a scroll. "The Sibylla Erythraea, a grand bare-headed creature, sits reading intently with crossed legs, about to turn over her book. "The Prophets are equally grand in structure, and though, as we have said, not more than men, yet they are the only men that could well bear the juxtaposition with their stupendous female colleagues.

Ezekiel, between Erythraea and Persica, has a scroll in his hand that hangs by his side, just cast down, as he turns eagerly to listen to some voice. "Jeremiah, a magnificent figure, sits with elbow on knee and head on hand, rapt in the meditation appropriate to one called to utter lamentation and woe. He has neither book nor scroll. "Jonah is also without either. His position is strained and ungraceful-looking upwards, and apparently remonstrating with the Almighty upon the destruction of the gourd, a few leaves of which are seen above him. His hands are placed together with a strange and trivial action, supposed to denote the counting on his fingers the number of days he was in the fish's belly. A formless marine monster is seen at his side. "Daniel has a book on his lap, with one hand on it. He is young, and a piece of lion's skin seems to allude to his history."-Lady Eastlake, "History of Our Lord," i. 248. In the recesses between the Prophets and Sibyls is a series of lovely family groups representing the Genealogy of the Virgin.

The four corners of the ceiling contain triangular groups illustrative of the power of Jehovah displayed in the deliverance of His chosen people. Near the altar are : The Sistine Chapel Ceiling: The Secret in Plain Sight The Sistine Chapel Ceiling: The Secret in Plain Sight by Joshua Tilghman on December 8, 2012 Our Biblical mystics weren’t the only ones who veiled secret information beyond the literal interpretation of their work. It seems Michelangelo, perhaps the greatest artist of all time, did too. One of the most important of his paintings contains a hidden message that would rock the traditional Christian mindset; at least it would if it were widely publicized. This post will address that painting and delve a little more into the painter’s true message behind God and man. The painting I am speaking of is called The Creation of Adam, completed on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1512. Even if I hadn’t posted the image above, you’d probably still know the one I’m talking about: the one where God is reaching down and almost touching Adam’s fingertip with his own.

This painting is the most popular of the Sistine Chapel’s fresco paintings, and, according to Wikipedia, it has “…become one of the most single iconic images of humanity.” The number of imitations is almost beyond counting. This individual painting is part of a much larger theme—spoken through many other paintings on the ceiling—that depicts the doctrine of the Catholic Church: creation, man’s fall from grace, and the promise of salvation. But are the traditional explanations taught to the masses appropriate? Most definitely not. The true message behind this painting’s imagery is anything but traditional, especially once you look beyond the natural focal points of God and Adam. We could begin by asking an obvious question: why is Adam depicted with a navel? Adam is supposed to have been created, right? He wasn’t born of a woman; therefore, there would have been no umbilical cord. At first this might seem to be a trivial point. But the evidence against the traditional interpretation of this painting keeps mounting. In 1990, Dr. Meshberger stated something spectacular in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The background shapes which God is depicted in on this painting closely resemble the human brain—the cerebrum, the brain stem, the pituitary stalk, the frontal lobe, and the basilar artery, it’s all right there depicted in the painting! Check out the comparison I found below on Google Images: Notice how God’s hand is extending from the prefrontal cortex, the most evolved and complex region of the brain, to reach out and touch Adam. This painting shows us a very unorthodox view of man’s relationship to God. “What?!” we should be screaming. Was Michelangelo trying to tell us something beyond the traditional doctrine of the Catholic Church? Of course he was. He was trying to tell us what the Apostle Paul already stated: “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you…” (1 Co. 6:19). And “Do ye not know that they which minister about the holy things live of the things of the temple? And they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?” (1 Co. 9:13).

You see, the problem with the traditional interpretation of these kinds of scriptures is that it doesn’t place enough emphasis on the human body, and more specifically, the mind. Most Christians are taught the watered-down version. For example, the body is Holy because it contains that which is Holy, God’s spirit. But folks, this misses Paul’s point entirely! The human body is a Holy Temple because it is THE VEHICLE that manifests the Holy Spirit! Do you see the difference? The body and brain is the altar! The body and brain is the temple! (See my article entitled, The True Meaning About the Ark of the Covenant to learn more). Michelangelo knew this. He had it figured out. And he left this knowledge in secret, but also in plain sight on one of the most important churches of the world! Don’t misunderstand what I am saying. You are not really your body. You are something eternal and temporarily take residence in the physical body. But you do not need redemption from this physical body after it gives out. Your redemption takes place IN this physical body! The potential for God is inside your brain. We just need to wake up this Christ within, and manifest him.

Take this concept together with an esoteric understanding of John’s scripture about the antichrist and we have an explosion of new meaning! “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God…” (1 John 4:3). What John is saying here, according to esoteric wisdom, is that anyone who denies that the Christ comes in the flesh—manifested from within your own fleshly body—is an antichrist. An antichrist is not someone who themselves are evil. An antichrist causes evil because they are ignorant of the truth. Ignorance always manifests sin. And sin is simply missing the mark, which is ignorance. Final thoughts Michelangelo’s true message behind this painting shouldn’t be a surprise to us; he was an expert in human anatomy. Possibly he also studied esoteric wisdom. I haven’t really looked into it that deeply. But something is amiss in what we’ve been taught by religious authorities. I am not blaming them. Most are just teaching what they were taught. But it’s time to wake up. How does this knowledge help us Mainly, it teaches us that our body is not a curse, it’s a gift!

Remember that spirit, of which you really are, must have a vehicle to manifest through. There are many different bodies and shells that consciousness is manifested into. You have physical, ethereal, emotional, and mental bodies. You have bodies that exist in much higher dimensions, and they all work together synergistically to manifest the physical body. If something is wrong in your physical body, you probably have a spiritual issue you need to work on. And yes, eating the right foods and getting plenty of sleep and exercise are not just physical issues, they are spiritual issues. In fact, they are more of a spiritual issue than physical a physical one. Do whatever it takes to manifest a healthy body. I certainly know I need to do more! My next blog post will deal with another iconic symbol from Egypt’s ancient past that is also discussed in the Bible. You will not want to miss that one! Until then, blessings! { 36 comments… read them below or add one } Nate December 8, 2012 at 1:59 pm I want to Thank you for your teaching and knowledge of the bible. You are awaking a giant that is within me. Peace Unto You.

Reply selina December 9, 2012 at 6:24 pm Totally agree we are not the body we are spirit and when our bodies die we leave and go back to the spirit realms, as i remember when i was three years old that i had lived before as a man and intuitively knew that there was far more than just this world,another example is i used to have two or three reoccurring dreams when they were exactly the same every time and a medium once described one exactly to me as one of my past lifes without any prompting from me. Love and light Selina x Reply selina December 12, 2012 at 9:08 pm Joshua, Yes it can be a blessing but not always, Yes your correct on the children’s age being up to four years old that is if they do remember a past live/s, Mind you though i knew i had lived before as a man i did not have any memory of it i just knew that I had.

one of my reoccurring dreams and always the same each time, It was really hot and I was standing outside a cream coloured concrete?oblong shape building that had square holes with a thick pole in the middle of each square width and length, making 4 small squares in each, for its windows, I was looking at the building as i was waiting for some one to come out and getting really bored and thirsty waiting forever it seamed and wishing they would hurry up. s This is what the medium picked up on as a past life of mine and did not know anything about me or that i dreamt it, she said the country was in south east Asia somewhere like that,which would explain the heat and feeling thirsty and felt that i used to live in that building and that i was confined there in some way .maybe the waiting around forever feeling in my dream was because i was confined there and waiting for someone who never came. Love and light Selina x Reply selina December 20, 2012 at 3:02 am Well straight away as for a SCIENTIST saying “our intuition fails us”, and another saying “The human brain arguably is the most complex entity in the known universe”.

Then indeed intuition has failed them,because the BRAIN is NOT A COMPLEX ENTITY the MIND IS A COMPLEX ENTITY. The BRAIN is part of the human body and the MIND IS CONSCIOUSNESS. When we die our brain along with all the parts of the human body dies, this is when our soul leaves the body as it is mind eternal CONSCIOUSNESS. Other words BRAIN =FLESH AND BONES BODY. MIND=SOUL AND SPIRIT BODY. THE BRAIN ACTS AS A RECEIVER NOTHING MORE AKIN TO A RADIO OR A TV RECEIVER THAT WORK BY PICKING UP FREQUENCY SIGNALS. Reply selina December 11, 2012 at 8:08 pm What i have found really amazing is that having seen the painting maybe several times in different ways I had not perceived it for how it really is, after reading Joshua’s information I magnified the image of the painting by 500% to have a closer look at it and I realised that there was no” electric blue coloured fork energy ” depicted, I could have even gambled that they was haha, that’s how sure I would have been.

Then after reading Brandon’s enlightening comment thought how apt that is and for me say’s it all that “God does move in mysterious ways.” selina December 16, 2012 at 2:12 pm Joshua, Thank you for now i know the truth. Reply selina December 20, 2012 at 4:46 am Please note the comment i left before and the one after was from reading the information from Brandon left in the link to which the first part found i agreed with what some of the Brain scientists claimed and hence that it enlightened me to how i had perceived the painting before and after Joshuas blog on the sistine chapel painting in the way i did Brandon explaining that electrical messages are passed by synapses being the junction to which neurons pass the message. what scientists claim the brain is, I claim is not, hahaha. If only someone could SHED some LIGHT on! the scientists to ENLIGHTEN them. Cherie Erten January 24, 2014 at 2:45 pm Joshua and Brandon, Everyone here is so knowledgeable. When you show me these thing I understand and it makes perfect sense.

I have known for more than half of my life what orthodox a Christianity was preaching was not right. What is so worrying is that I wasn’t able to figure out why. I had a clue the words I heard once “look inside yourself.” but I could not remember who or where I heard it. I have been to the Sistine Chapel, my interest was the art and architecture. Not a fan of the Catholic Church. Now like Brandon said this is there for all to see that have eyes. I didn’t see it, pointed out, I did. WHY? However, I alway thought John in the “Last long Supper” looked like a woman, long before the hoopla of the Davinci code. Reply A H June 30, 2014 at 12:45 am Interesting article. I had read through the comments and, though I am a non-confrontational person, I have to make a comment on something said, even though I know some people won’t like it. But this is Spirit of the Scripture, so I think a warning from the scripture should be heeded… Leviticus 19:31 NIV.

“Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them.” “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 18:9-12 NIV) King Saul of Israel sought counsel from a medium called the Witch of Endor. The armies of Israel were about to be attacked by the Philistines. Saul was in rebellion against God and in desperation sought the services of the spiritist. “So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Please conduct a séance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you.” (1 Samuel 28:8 NKJV).

Saul then asked the medium to conjure up the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel, to ask his counsel regarding the pending Philistine attack. “And the king said to her, ‘Do not be afraid. What did you see?’ And the woman said to Saul, ‘I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.’ So he said to her, ‘What is his form?’ And she said, ‘An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle.’ And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down.'” (1 Samuel 28:13-14. NKJV) Saul should have known better than to consult with a medium, for God had warned in Leviticus 20:6, “I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them. I will cut him off from his people.” The end result of King Saul’s quest was tragic. Shortly after his visit to the witch, the king was wounded in battle and took his own life rather than being captured by the enemy. Was the spirit conjured up by the medium a genuine agent of God?

Was it actually the deceased prophet Samuel – or was it a spirit imposter? The Bible says, “For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun.” In other words, for sure we know it couldn’t be Samuel, because when we die, we “know nothing.” There are some key details that must not be overlooked. First, the spirit was “ascending out of the earth.” Those who believe that when you die, your spirit goes up to heaven have to ask themselves, “why was Samuel’s spirit coming up from the earth, rather than down from heaven?” Second, when the spirit speaks to Saul and gives a prediction, the spirit says, “tomorrow you and your sons will be with me.” Again we have to ask, if Samuel is a good man and prophet of the Lord, isn’t he supposed to be in heaven? If we assume that the spirit of Samuel is in heaven, then, how can Saul, who is in rebellion against the Lord, also end up where Samuel is the next day?

It seems the spirit is a lying spirit! The answer is in the Bible, 1 Chronicles 10:13-14, NIV. “Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord.” The medium’s spirit was an imposter, for Scripture clearly states that Saul “did not inquire of the Lord.” In our modern day, just like King Saul of old, people seek counsel from psychic mediums. Several fortune-telling channelers have become wealthy celebrities as a result of predictions published in supermarket tabloids and through counseling well-paying clientele such as Hollywood movie stars, politicians and industrialists. The psychics sometimes claim to be channeling ‘Jesus Christ’, ‘Jehovah God’, and ‘the Virgin Mary’. But what is the real source of the messages uttered by these spiritists? The apostle Paul was once also met with a psychic medium. Luke records what happened to him, Paul, and Silas in the pagan city of Philippi.

“Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, ‘These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.’ And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And he came out that very hour. But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities (Acts 16:16-19, NKJV). The spirit of the slave girl that was giving her the ability to do fortune-telling was an evil spirit, a demon, which Paul was able to cast out. It should be noted, that demons have no problem telling some of the truth to hide their deception. Even the demon could acknowledge Paul as serving God and teaching the truth. Jesus himself on several occasions was confronted with people controlled by demon spirits, yet still recognized the authority of Jesus.

In one instance in Capernaum, “there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.” (Mark 1:23-26, ESV). Just because a spirit can tell the truth, doesn’t mean it is a good spirit. At one time these evil spirits were holy angels living in heaven with God. But they rebelled with Satan and were cast down to planet earth. It’s in the Bible, Revelation 12:7-9 NIV. “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Because the spirits who respond to the channelers are satanic, channeling is abhorrent to God. There are few who have any true conception of the deceptive power of spiritualism and the danger of coming under its influence. Many tamper with it merely to gratify their curiosity. They have no real faith in it and would be filled with horror at the thought of yielding themselves to the spirits’ control. But they venture upon the forbidden ground, and the mighty destroyer exercises his power upon them against their will. Let them once be induced to submit their minds to his direction, and he holds them captive. It is impossible, in their own strength, to break away from the bewitching, alluring spell. Nothing but the power of God, granted in answer to the earnest prayer of faith, can deliver these ensnared souls. Among the Israelites, the penalty for anyone practicing spiritism was death.

“A man or woman who is a medium or a spiritist among you must be put to death.” (Leviticus 20:27, NIV.) God tells us, “And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people seek their God?” (Isaiah 8:19, NKJV). The admonition from heaven is clear. When in need of counsel, we are to seek God. He who assures us, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NKJV). In seeking God, His Word, the Holy Bible, is to be our guiding light. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105 KJV). Reply Robert Woodley September 17, 2014 at 12:03 am There is nothing religious about Michelangelo!

He was a gay man and worked as a painter to survive. By attending dissections of corpses he risked being charged with heresy by the Inquisition, just as Galileo was for his theories. It is a tongue-in-cheek joke on the Church. He probably despised the church and the ignorant men who ordered him around, as if he was a decorator. David B January 25, 2015 at 10:12 pm This is a very naive explanation for the painting. Please research the following: Many, Id say a majority of the great influence in history dabbled in the occult. Mathematicians, philosophers, scientists, etc. The message of the occult is generally centralized around the idea that man, through the gift of intellect, (from Lucifer, the light bearer) can become a God himself. This is also known as Theosophy. Take a look at this brief intro: In Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, the 30th to 33rd degrees are degrees of Illumination, with the 33rd being the most sought after by the ‘illumined man.’ The 33rd degree is the highest publicly known degree in Freemasonry.

The number 33 signifies ‘Illumination’ and freedom from religious dogma (superstition). The human backbone contains 33 vertebra with the cranium (intellect) on top. The number 13 is also significant in the Mysteries. In the occult Gematria (number system) the number 6 represents man. The number 7 represents divine perfection or God. The Hebrew (Biblical) Gematria system is identical for these particular numbers. Thus it can be seen that the number 13 is a combination of man and divine perfection which is exactly what Illuminism actually is, man becomes a god. The York Rite of Freemasonry has 13 degrees (only 9 publicly). The Bavarian Order of Illuminati (Adam Weishaupt’s branch) also had 13 degrees. The obelisk, a phallic symbol pertaining to Osiris, is another important symbol in the mysteries and symbolizes the lost word of Freemasonry or the ‘secret’ of the Mysteries. The obelisk is a symbol of the sun god (intellect) or generative force.

To understand this fully it is necessary to study the Osirian cycle but I will not go into that now. Consider the following examples . . . The Pope’s cassock has 32 buttons and his head represents the 33rd. If you look at the roof of the United Nations General Assembly you will see a large light circular light surrounded by 32 smaller lights. If you look at the United Nations own symbol you will see a circle divided up into 32 sections with the center being the 33rd. On the United Nations symbol you will notice 13 leaves on the olive branch. The symbol for the Soviet Union has this feature as well as 32 rays emanating from the sun with the sun being the 33rd. The Washington monument is an obelisk. There is an obelisk at the Vatican surrounded by a circle. This represents the union of Osiris and Isis (exoteric). These two symbols are surrounded further out by 32 archways on each side of the courtyard, in all it is an outdoor temple of the Mystery Schools. Examine the two Great Seals of the United States on the U.S. One Dollar Bill. Count the number of thirteens.

On the eagle one wing has 32 sections while the other has 33. The symbology in these two seals is evident to all who understand the symbolic language. 13 inches is equal to 33 centimeters. Our measuring system originated in Masonic France in the 1790s. 666 divided by 212 Farenheit (boiling point of water) is equal approximately to PI (3.14…). Ice melts at 32 degrees Farenheit, corresponding with the degrees of illumination in the Masonic Lodge. D. Farenheit was most definitely a student of the occult. Along with these few examples you will notice that many buildings (particularly those owned by foundations such as the Rockefeller Foundation) have symbology incorporated into their designs. Look out for symbols of the sun, pyramids, obelisks, the all seeing eye of Osiris, the circle with a dot in the middle, a snake in a circle biting its tale. The list of symbology goes on and on, and is common in our civilization. …………………………………………. This explains the location for the painting as well, Vatican City. They are very much involved in the occult.

Thanks for reading Reply Sherry June 19, 2015 at 10:45 am I have been meditating for 7 years now, and have done some amazing things with it. In the past 1-2 years, I have “awakened the God within” for lack of a better term. My third eye is open even when I am not in a meditative state, and am often able to communicate or receive blocks of information from “source”. Last night, I was connected, reaching for more information about what more can I reach for, and what more I can expand to. I received a block of information which lead me to Google the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and then to your article. Though I have a lot of experience in art history, and have seen the ceiling in person, I never considered it’s purpose. I am an atheist, and considering that it depicts a Biblical story, it is of no interest to me. Last night, in meditative state, I received a block of information, that basically translates to this: The Sistine chapel is being seen all wrong. You are looking at it wrong.

Instead of looking at it by raising your head toward the ceiling, look at it with your third eye. After landing on your web page, I saw similarities between the information I received, and how your diagram of the brain is superimposed upon the image of God. I completely agree with you when you superimposed the brain onto the depiction of “God”. Here is where we differ. Do you notice that the Adam and God are almost mirror images of each other? Even the surrounding figures, (except for the angels around God), have an “almost” mirror image. This is because, in that meditative state that Michaelangelo describes, you are not seeing God, you ARE God. What you are seeing is your true self. Having experienced this connection when I am in a deep meditative state, I can physically feel its presence, and it’s coming awake. It feels like a superhuman power I have no words to describe. I have not explored it deeply enough to give you more information. However, since you seem to have touched upon information that religion and science do not explain, I thought I would share this with you. All I can say for sure thus far is 1) There are no words.

This experience cannot be described in words, language is totally inadequate. This is why today’s teachers, Buddhist and Hindu monks, the Dalai Lama, spiritualists, and theologians, etc. cannot adequately describe the process of meditation with words. 2) There is no possible way to teach this subject. You can guide someone but each individual is responsible for its quieting his own mind, learning to meditate, dropping beliefs that cause resistance, opening the third eye, connecting to source and putting a finger on their own abundance. The Bible does say that the path is your own, and the kingdom of heaven is yours to achieve. You can’t enter it based on someone else’s work or aid. 3) The laws of physics in the meditative state and with source are the OPPOSITE of what you see here in physical reality. This is why so many fail at meditation. You cannot attain wealth, you receive it. You cannot find love when you search for it, you only receive it when you are love. 4) And finally, the Sistine chapel ceiling is not meant to be a work of art. It is a diagram.

A diagram that effectively describes the entire path of meditation, rising toward its higher states, opening of the crown chakra, connecting with the white light, becoming one with it, and becoming one with God. There are thousands of such diagrams in plain sight, all over the world. Each religion tries to communicate this, but these images cannot be seen for what they are with physical eyes. An unenlightened person will just see art. A connected or AWAKE individual, will be able to read them right away. An unenlightened reader of the Bible will just learn a story, an enlightened reader sees beyond the words. Anyway, I thought that you might appreciate my discovery, and the path I took to receive it as it matches your own. I didn’t go into the details of the Sistine Chapel, as I am not able to see its details staring at a Googled image. But this very much is a diagram, of how the mind receives God. If there was a way to superimpose in 3D the image on the ceiling over the human brain, you would see the levels, the colors, the mental states you rise to to enter “walk in the light”.

Thanks for your time, and for sharing your knowledge with those able to understand it, Sherry Michelangelo and the Jews | Family Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Michelangelo and the Jews Share Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. (התקבל במייל פרטי) ichelangelo and the Jews Michelangelo and The Sistine Chapel by Rabbi Benjamin Blech. Is the Sistine Chapel the site for the greatest subversive act in the history of art? In the heart of the Vatican , the Sistine Chapel is the site of the conclave where every new pope is elected. It is without doubt the holiest chapel in the Christian world, and draws more than 4 million visitors per year. Most of the world knows it best for its magnificent frescoes painted by the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. What has remained a little-known secret, however, is that within this citadel of Christianity lies perhaps the greatest subversive act in the history of art.

Almost none of the visitors who enter the Sistine realize that they are gazing upon secret messages embedded by Michelangelo in his artistic masterpiece. They would certainly be surprised to learn that, in the pope's own chapel, Michelangelo employed these secret messages to advocate for a revolutionary change in Christianity's relationship to Judaism, and that the code itself was rooted in the Jewish tradition. Michelangelo became fascinated with Midrash and Kabbalah as a teenager, studying with private tutors provided by his patron, Lorenzo de' Medici. Using his knowledge of Judaism and its mystical symbols, he later incorporated messages, via painted images, on the chapel's walls dangerously contrary to the teachings of the Church. In this way, he criticized the corrupt spiritual leadership of the time, and condemned the Church's failure to acknowledge its debt to Jewish origins. Expressed 500 years before the more liberal contemporary theology of Pope John Paul II and "The Good Pope," John XXIII, discovery of his secret code and heretical views might have cost Michelangelo his life.

When I first heard these claims from Roy Doliner, a Jewish docent and scholar of the humanities who has been leading tours of the Sistine Chapel for close to a decade, I assumed they were too incredible to be true. Only after he shared with me his diligent research (after which I performed a great deal of scholarly sleuthing on my own) did I became thoroughly convinced of their legitimacy. I eventually co-authored a book with Roy, "The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican, < > " which was released earlier this year. To our great delight, the book is already beginning to alter the way scholars interpret the work of Michelangelo, sparking vigorous, and sometimes heated, debate. "Just as the work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel changed forever the world of art, so will this book change forever the way to view and, above all, to understand the work of Michelangelo," said Enrico Bruschini, official art historian for the U.S. Embassy in Rome and a leading expert on the art of Rome and the Vatican. A true Renaissance man, Michelangelo was at home in philosophy as well as art; in Christian theology as well as Jewish mysticism.

However, those who have studied his work in the past gener ally have not been conversant with the wide corpus of knowledge that forged him as an artist. Most Sistine Chapel scholars were not well-versed in Judaism and Kabbalah; it was impossible for them to fully grasp the artist's allusions. By combining the scholarship of our respective fields, Roy and I, the docent and the Orthodox rabbi, were able to uncover secrets long buried in Michelangelo's frescos. From the start, Michelangelo had a personal agenda different from that of his patron. In 1508, we know that Pope Julius II ordered Michelangelo to re-plaster and paint the crumbling ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a demeaning job at that time for any great artist, and especi ally for Michelangelo, who detested painting and lived only to sculpt. The pope gave him a simple design, a very standard and banal layout of Jesus and Mary at the two ends of the ceiling, surrounded by the Apostles and a common design of geometric shapes in the center. The artist refused, and fought with the pope who, sick and distracted, fin ally let him develop his own plan.

Imagine the surprise of the pope and the viewers when the completed project was unveiled four and a half years later: Ninety-five percent of the Chapel was adorned with heroes and heroines of the Jewish Bible. The rest was filled with pagan sibyls and naked boys. In the 12,000 square feet of the world's largest fresco, there was not a single Christian figure to be found. The only nod to the Gospels - and one of the ways Michelangelo managed to save both his life and the painting - was a barely-noticeable series of names of the Jewish ancestors of Jesus that do not even appear in chronological order. Why did Michelangelo disobey the pope in this way? Michelangelo had a hidden agenda: to remind the Church that its roots were grounded in the Torah given to the Jewish people. Michelangelo had a hidden agenda: to remind the Church that its roots were grounded in the Torah given to the Jewish people. This insight, which he inserted throughout his work, is only now beginning to receive attention in contemporary scholarship.. It is also showing up in the popular media.

Time magazine's March 24 cover story, "10 Ideas That Are Changing the World," singled out what scholars are now calling "Re-Judaizing Jesus" as the most powerful idea in the field of religion. Michelangelo's frescos emphasize the universality of God and the kinship of all mankind by beginning the pictorial narrative with the Creation story of Genesis, not with the birth of Jesus. To a Church that preached exclusionism and stressed Divine love for only a limited number of His children, Michelangelo emphasized tolerance of all faiths, even the despised Jews of his time. One fresco exemplifying this idea is the portrait of Aminadab, father of Nachshon, which appears above the elevated area where the pope sat on his throne. Hebrew scholars know that Aminadab's Hebrew name means, "from my people, a prince." But the Church interprets a "prince of the Jews" to refer directly to Jesus. Michelangelo positioned Aminadab, "Prince of the Jews," as surrogate for Jesus himself. This is one of the extremely rare figures painted by Michelangelo sitting perfectly upright, looking forward, a signal by the artist that the figure is, indeed, noteworthy.

Moreover, a bright yellow circle, a ring of cloth sewn onto a garment appears on Aminadab's upper left arm. (This detail was not revealed for modern audiences until the frescoes were restored in 2001.) This patch displays the badge of shame forced on the Jews of Europe by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 and the Inquisition during the 15th Century. Here, directly over the head of the pope, the Vicar of Christ, Michelangelo was reminding the Church that Jesus was a Jew. He was condemning the Church for its shameful treatment of the Jews, from whom Jesus was born. This was a courageous statement. His veiled messages were painted at a time when the Talmud and other Jewish sacred texts were being burned all over Europe, the Inquisition was operating at full strength and the Jewish people had just been expelled from Spain in 1492. Michelangelo had the courage to challenge the papal court, asking via the symbols of his painting, "Is this how you treat the very family of Our Lord?" Michelangelo's contempt for the Church's treatment of Jews went further to insult the pope himself via an almost imperceptible gesture of Aminadab.

Almost hidden in shadow, this surrogate for Jesus is subtly making "devil's horns" with his fingers, which point downward toward the very spot where Pope Julius' richly embroidered ceremonial canopy would have been, over the papal throne. In somewhat similar manner, in another fresco placed over the original chapel portal through which Pope Julius entered, Michelangelo depicts the prophet Zechariah with the pope's own face. Over his shoulder one can see a little angel with his fingers curled in a way to make an obscene gesture known in Italy as "giving the fig." In the symbolism of the Sistine Chapel frescoes, instead of shame and persecution, inclusiveness and acknowledgement of Divine Favor are the qualities Michelangelo advocates for the Church's treatment of the Jews. We have an even more powerful indication of Michelangelo's philo-Semitism in his later work, "The Last Judgment." In it, a golden-haired angel robed in red poses directly over Jesus' head and points at two men within a group known as the "Righteous Souls," a collection of figures who represent those privileged to spend eternity in a state of bliss with Jesus as reward for their deeds on earth. Michelangelo portrays both of these men as Jews, a potenti ally blasphemous act.

One wears the two-pointed cap that the Church forced Jewish males to wear to reinforce the medieval prejudice that Jews, being spawned of the Devil, had horns. This figure is shown speaking to the other older Jew as he points one finger upward, indicating the One-ness of God. The other figure wears a yellow cap of shame; during the 13th century, the Church ordered Jewish men in Italy to wear such caps in public. In front of the two figures, a woman, her hair modestly covered, whispers in the ear of a nude youth before her. The youth resembles Michelangelo's young tutor, Pico della Mirandola, who owned the largest Kabbalah library in the world at the time, and who taught the young artist secrets of Jewish mysticism as he infused within him a life-long respect for the Jewish people. In granting Jews a place in heaven with Jesus, the 16th century Michelangelo took a then-blasphemous stand on an issue which still provokes heated debate among Christians in the 21st century.

His depiction of those granted Divine Favor clearly contravened official Church doctrine, which maintained that Jews could never hope to have a Heavenly reward.תן לאנשים לדעת מה אתה מתכנן, או שתף קישורים לתצלומים, קטעי וידאו ודפי אינטרנט.

Question: In Michaelangelo's painting on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Adam's finger points to whom?
Answer: God