Tuesday, February 22, 2011

View Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel artwork online

Most of will probably never see the Sistine Chapel in person. Even if you can get to Rome, you'll find the Chapel is always full of people. Then there's the fact that all the artwork is on the ceiling!

However, you can now view Michelangelo's artwork on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel online.  

Michelangelo's frescos on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Rome

You can view - virtually - every part of this masterpiece.  If you have a large and/or high definition screen you're going to find the experience particularly stimulating
  • Just click and drag your arrow in the direction of the part you wish to see.
  • Down in the lower left corner are the controls to zoom in (click the plus + sign) and zoom out (click the - sign). 
  • You can also scroll to move in closer
Read more about the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Sistine Chapel (Italian: Cappella Sistina) is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace; the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decoration that was frescoed throughout by the greatest Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, and Sandro Botticelli. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted 12,000 square feet (1,100 m2) of the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. He resented the commission, and believed his work only served the Pope's need for grandeur. However, today the ceiling, and especially The Last Judgement, is widely believed to be Michelangelo's crowning achievement in painting.

From Wikipedia - Sistine Chapel

Other artwork in the Vatican - Raphael, Caravaggio and Michelangelo

Below I've included links to the rest of the Vatican website and some of the other highlights of the artwork which can be seen in the Vatican
Sistine Chapel
The Last Judgement (Michelangelo)

Raphael's Rooms
Liberation of St Peter (Raphael)

Pinacoteca
Deposition from the Cross (Caravaggio
Gregorian Egyptian Museum

Gregorian Etruscan Museum

Ethnological Missionary Museum
Quetzalcóatl, Pre-Colombian Mexican divinity

4 comments:

  1. You are a clever one!!!
    That 's beautifull. Already done.
    Brava Kathrine.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Katherine, thank you! That's almost as good as being there...well, all right, not, but still absolutely stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow!!!!It's good to know these are available to see, so up close.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fantastic! Like being there, without the tight-packed tourists:-)

    I went to the Sistine Chapel early enough to snag a seat on the stone bench along the wall and sketched from Michelangelo's incredibly three-dimensional figures. Great experience. Thanks for posting this awesome virtual tour.

    ReplyDelete

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