[DOC] The Last Judgment: Michelangelo and the Death of the Renaissance by James A. Connor in Arts-Photography

Review

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful. SUPERB ACCOUNTING OF MICHAELANGELOS MASTERPIECEBy Nixie"In planning his design. Michaelangelo understood that the primary beholder for his fresco would be the pope and not the public at large. Therefore. he set the structure of the fresco so that its proper viewing points would correspond with the places that the pope would inhabit the chapel." pg. 86Dr. Connors excellent scholarship and research offer the reader a unique vantage point to view this somewhat puzzling. confounding. but acknowledged masterpiece. along with the personalities involved. The writing is superb. Fresh and original points made in this book are finely supported so that the novice and the expert may comfortably find it very readable. The examination of the fresco should be of interest to historians. historians of religion and of art. The chapter on the frescos censorship (pg. 185) is exceptionally interesting. This book should be used as a supplement in the study of this important work of art.Dr. Connors book on the art. politics. and science of the renaissance has been a very clarifying read. I highly recommend it.17 of 20 people found the following review helpful. MOSES left hand....By Richard MasloskiSo I am into this book 62 pages and thinking its a pretty jumbled. uninspired accounting of the great Maestro and his life and times and work on the great fresco of The Last Judgement and I hit this description of Michelangelos magnificent. majestic marble sculpture of Moses:"...Moses sits with the tablets of the law in his hands. his face aged with worry. resting his chin on his left hand. as one lost in thought."Mmmm... Well. apparently James Connor (Professor of English at Kean University) didnt do too much thought when writing that description. In the sublime sculpture. Moses left hand is nowheres near his chin - neither hand is! - and the tablets of the law are NOT in his hands (the suggestion being both hands)- they are supported by the right arm and hand only. Also. Moses face is not aged with worry: hes really not old looking at all. except for the long beard. No. to say his face is aged with worry is a poor description. His face is filled with slow-burning anger at the iniquties of his people.Anyway. what is the point I am making? Simply this. all Mr. Connor had to do was look at a photo of the Moses sculpture to refamiliarize himself with its true pose before writing about it! Naturally. as I now plow forward through the remaining chapters. I am left wondering what else is wrong. inept. incorrect? What other landmines of literary bombs will I hit?I read alot. mostly history and biography. And it seems to be a growing and troublesome trend that many. many of the books I read are peppered with factual errors that should NOT escape the author nor the proof-reader nor the authorities who offer blurbs for the books dustjackets. Yet they do. in increasing numbers it seems!Scholarship...is not what it was in the good old days.Ill edit this review once I have finished this thus-far disappointing book.UPDATE - URGENT: On page 155. in discussing the The Creation of Adam on the Sistine Ceiling. Prof. Connor writes: "In the panel of the creation of Adam. both God and Adam are naked. which makes sense because Adam is in a state of innocence before the fall and does not realize that he is naked. while God in his perfection is depicted in the Greek Style. with a perfect body that indicates a perfection of spirit." To borrow the title from Kubricks last film. Prof. Connor must have written this book with eyes wide shut. God is NOT naked in the fresco depicting the creation of Adam!!!! Why do people write about things before fully researching them????? Especially our Professors. educators of tomorrows torch-bearers! Pitiful. truly.1 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Michelangelos last waltzBy M. A NewmanThe Last Judgment represents the last major fresco by Michelangelo. Although the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel will always be regarded as the artists masterpiece. this book by James A. Conner provides context for the execution of this late work by the last master of the Renaissance.Michelangelo was the product of the Florentine school of painting with its emphasis on drawing and the execution of forms. Vasari in his biography of Michelangelo discusses the differences between his fellow Tuscan countryman and that of his nearest rival. Titian of Venice who emphasized color over form.Vasari may have been the first art historian. however his study of Michelangelo really short-changes a number of features that Conner addresses in this work on the Last Judgment. Color. and in particular the vast areas of ultra-marine in the painting. made from ground lapis lazuli and tempura. While Michelangelo always viewed drawing and the form of an image as essential. the brilliance of that creation was another fundamental consideration. the extent of which Conner provides ample documentation.The Last Judgment comes at the end of the Renaissance and follows the notorious sack of Rome by the Imperial troops of Charles V. This event was a wake-up call to the papacy. which had enmeshed itself in the dominant humanist and secular culture derived from the rediscovery of Greek and Roman texts. Neo-Platonic thought. which dominated the courts of Italy including the Papal one. could never serve as the basis of any popular movement and would do much to isolate the papacy from many of its followers in places such as Germany where the Reformation was breaking out.Like all great art. The Last Judgment is the synthesis of a number of intellectual trends that were active during its creation. The Last Judgment is not only the product of the secular pagan sensibility. most obviously in the form the Jesus/Apollo figure at the center of the work. but it also combined the views of Aquinas as well as Dante. There is also a subversive element in its implied advocacy of a heliocentric view of the universe. The focus on celestial justice. a theme of the painting. is also taken from Michelangelos experiences living under the rule of the Florentine republic of Savonarola. Conners ability to pick out these elements in the Last Judgment is one of the strong points of the work.The process of creating a fresco like the Last Judgment was a tedious one since it involved painting over wet plaster. One had to work fast and in specific segments before the plaster dried or one was forced to start over again. Michelangelo viewed the execution of fresco to be one of the true tests of an artist. There was very little room for spontaneity in the execution of the design under the limitations imposed by the medium. Conner provides very good technical details concerning the execution.Coming as it did at the end of the Renaissance when the Catholic Church was re-examining the mentalities that lead to the sack of Rome and the Protestant reformation. it is natural that a work such as the Last Judgment would become controversial. As church prelates attempted to refocus cultural matters. the degree of nudity in the Last Judgment-something that was understood in the humanist Renaissance. but not in the more populist times that followed. Some of the naiuml;ve critics dismissed the Last Judgment as a painting more appropriate for a tavern than a church. Luckily the post-Renaissance leaders of the Catholic Church were so fixated on the nudity that they did not notice the heliocentric subtext. Had this subversive element been noticed. it most certainly would have been destroyed. As it happened a painter was engaged to cover the nudity of some of the saints and martyrs as well as the damned.James Conner has chronicled the birth and life of a great work of art. His book places the Last Judgment in the proper historical context.