Dylan Mulcahy
Jenny Zhan
Caleb Ong
James Jin
2. Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel was one of such paintings that were able to synthesize secular aestheticism and religious asceticism. Throughout the ceiling various figures and scenes from the bible are depicted. Even with the religious influence, every single person (be they in austere clothing or fully nude) has a high degree of aestheticism. One reason that this is acceptable is because Michelangelo’s famous depiction of God’s creation of Adam (and in turn all of humanity) is that he did so with great aestheticism. So therefore, humanity is depicted as naturally beautiful and perfect (catering to aestheticism) even though the figures carry themselves with great modesty and asceticism, creating a natural synthesis of the two. This synthesis also reflects the changing ideologies. Most of the actions in the painting such as Adam’s creation, the Downfall of Adam and Eve, the Great Flood, and Noah’s drunkenness, God assists humanity but then humanity makes a huge mistake and God has to fix it. This can be seen as humanity’s need for God’s constant salvation. Yet the same of such depictions can be depicted with a humanistic view that humanity. Humanity chose to eat the apple at the Garden of Eden, save their selves from the flood, and Noah’s choice was to drunken himself. This can be interpreted with the sense that humanity will make their own choices for good or evil without religious intervention. Artists were clearly beginning to show changing ideologies in religion and philosophy but still act according to social standards. (252 Words)
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