The Crucifixion of St. Peter (Michelangelo)

The Crucifixion of St. Peter

Artist	Michelangelo
Year	circa 1546–1550
Type	Fresco
Dimensions	625 cm × 662 cm (246 in × 261 in)
Location	Cappella Paolina, Vatican Palace, Vatican City
Preceded by	The Conversion of Saul

The Crucifixion of St. Peter is a fresco painting by the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti (c. 1546–1550). It is housed in the Cappella Paolina, Vatican Palace, in the Vatican City, Rome. It is the last fresco executed by Michelangelo.

The artist portrayed St. Peter in the moment in which he was raised by the Roman soldiers to the cross. Michelangelo concentrated the attention on the depiction of pain and suffering. The faces of the people present are clearly distressed. Pope Paul commissioned this fresco by Michelangelo in 1541 and unveiled it in his Cappella Paolina.

Restoration of the fresco completed in 2009 revealed an image believed to be a self-portrait of Michelangelo himself.^[1] The figure is standing in the upper left corner of the fresco, wearing a red tunic and a blue turban. Blue turbans were often worn by Renaissance sculptors to keep the dust out of their hair.

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SPEAKER 1: We're in Santa Maria del Popolo. SPEAKER 2: In Rome. SPEAKER 1: Looking at one of the great Caravaggios of the Baroque. SPEAKER 2: This may actually be my favorite Caravaggio, although I think I said about the last Caravaggio we did. SPEAKER 1: You may have. This is the "Crucifixion of St. Peter." You know, we talk about the diagonals of the Baroque and the sense of action in the momentary. But Caravaggio just makes that seem so pedestrian. It's such an activated, complex set of movements and weights. SPEAKER 2: Counter-movements. SPEAKER 1: And yes. And gravity plays this intense role. SPEAKER 2: Very, very, very powerful feeling of the pull of gravity. But what gets me is Peter. Caravaggio went out onto the street and got a guy. SPEAKER 1: He's a real and powerful, intense figure. And he looks really crabby, just the way Peter should be. Now, the story of course is that Peter-- SPEAKER 2: He asked to be crucified not the way that Christ did. SPEAKER 1: That's right. So upside-down. SPEAKER 2: So they're turning the cross upside-down, right? Look at him. He looks poor and kind of messy. SPEAKER 1: Not idealized at all. SPEAKER 2: No. SPEAKER 1: This is in such contrast to the pomp and ceremony. SPEAKER 2: He's a guy hanging out in a bar in Rome. SPEAKER 1: Well, that's what Caravaggio is so well known for. It's all the pomp and ceremony of Rome, of the Catholic Church is here turned on its head by Caravaggio. Think about this in contrast to the medieval traditions where there's no sense of gravity, no sense of weight, no sense of physicality. I mean, we're really seeing the ramifications of the Renaissance, but the brought into the Baroque era with a kind of intense emotionalism and physicality that even puts the Renaissance to shame. SPEAKER 2: Yeah. Oh, and shoved in your face. The guy who's lifting the cross , he's got all the way under it and is hoisting it with his back. We see his butt in our face. We see his legs, his dirty feet. SPEAKER 1: That's right. And this notion of really pushing out past the picture plane into our face is absolutely-- SPEAKER 2: Right. Into the space-- into our space. SPEAKER 1: And look at the diagonal of Peter has his feet comes towards us. SPEAKER 2: Yeah. SPEAKER 1: You're absolutely right. It breaks out into our world. SPEAKER 2: Right. And in fact, the cross as it moves out into our space by his feet, gives us a very close up view of the nails. There's a kind way that it gets to you in your body so that you almost go "ugh, agh." SPEAKER 1: Yeah. There's all this tension, actually. SPEAKER 2: You can feel that. The nail through his hands is all very, very real and descriptive. And the way that there's that black background. SPEAKER 1: Because light is really emphasizing what you're talking about. They way in which the knees protrude, the way in which the body is sort of pushed forward. All of that is highly controlled by the way that the light is played here. SPEAKER 2: And on his abdomen and his knees, they make his body look very normal. Like it's a regular man's body. So different than the kinds of bodies we're used to seeing in the Renaissance. SPEAKER 1: It's true, although there is a kind of heroicism here in terms of its mass and its strength. But it's only expressed through-- SPEAKER 2: Belied a little bit by the face though, I think, which looks so vulnerable. SPEAKER 1: It's true. There is this kind of incredible tension, because you're right. All the forces of nature play here. And we're not quite sure if that rope is strong enough. We're not quite sure if those men are strong enough. It may just fall. SPEAKER 2: It may. The whole thing could collapse at any second. SPEAKER 1: Absolutely. There's this kind of sense of transience in the momentary. SPEAKER 2: And sort of human frailty, you know. SPEAKER 1: That's right. In a sense, Caravaggio's brilliance is to be able to create this sense of newness and freshness, and as if this hadn't been rehearsed hundreds of times in paintings for hundreds of years. SPEAKER 2: I know, but no one did it like this. SPEAKER 1: It's as if it's the first time. SPEAKER 2: Yeah.

St. Peter

St. Peter is known by his many attributes, as “rock of the church,” the “first vicar of Christ,” or the first Pope. These attributes, specially the latter, made him the subject of many works of art in the Vatican. St Peter is depicted receiving the keys to the kingdom of Heaven from Christ on the wall of the Sistine chapel in Perugino’s The Delivery of the Keys. Pope Paul III commissioned Michelangelo to paint yet another fresco of St Peter around the year 1545.^[2] In contrast to themes of power and glory depicted by Perugino, Michelangelo elected to paint a much darker moment in the saint’s life. St Peter’s status as a major martyr is not only because he was the “first vicar of Christ,” but also because he was, like Christ, crucified. Although his final request is not mentioned in the canonical New Testament, it was popularly believed (due to the Apocryphal text known as the Acts of Peter) that he demanded: Crucify me head downwards, for I am not worthy to die as my master died.^[3] The Crucifixion fresco is situated on the eastern wall of the Pauline Chapel, which is significant because that is the location in which the cardinals have always held their elections for a new pope.^[4]

Formal analysis and compositional elements

The backdrop to the scene is a minimally elaborated mountainous background. Michelangelo did not render this background in great detail. Vasari states, “There are no landscapes to be seen in these scenes, nor any trees, buildings or other embellishments and variation.”^[5] The mountains are painted in a faint blue hue, which perhaps is intended to increase the depth of field through atmospheric perspective. The land represented in the middle ground and foreground is a pale yellow-green that is in some places more of a yellow ochre in color. The only real vertical elements in the painting are the figures, which occupy most of the foreground. Many clusters of people surround a single large central figure that is mounted on a crucifix. The most impressive formal attribute of this painting (besides its considerable size) is its central compositional element. Unlike the many prior representations of the martyrdom of Peter, this one depicts the raising of the cross- the moment before the crucifixion has truly begun.^[6] The angle of the crucifix activates the composition and creates much more dynamism in what might otherwise be a static image. The strong diagonal creates a cyclical visual pattern for the eyes to follow. If one reads the painting from left to right, the figures ascending the steps on the bottom left lead the eye upward towards a cluster of equestrian figures. They direct the eye to the group of people located on the top right corner, which in turn lead to one end of the crucifix. The other end of the crucifix points again to the men who are climbing up the steps. Michelangelo also created many strong diagonals with the placement of his figures and the extension of their arms and legs towards a central point of convergence. The position of St Peter's body in this work is often noted as Michelangelo's most interesting innovation. He defied convention by placing Peter's upper body so that he needs to crane upward and twist his neck to make eye contact with the viewer's gaze. This is a far cry from the painted visages of the final moments of countless martyrs, which is typically a passive uplifted gaze. The saint's penetrating stare suggests that he demands the witness of his audience; he demands their focus and gaze, and beseeches that his sacrifice not be deemed in vain.

Criticism

These frescoes initially were derided from the very moment of their unveiling.^[7] Most of the criticism focused on what was considered a blatant disregard for proportion. Some attributed the failure of these frescoes to the artist's advancing age and declining health. Later, some scholars attributed the disproportionate nature of the figures to a Michelangelo's active pursuit of mannerist technique. Steinberg refutes these claims by positing the fact that the characteristic stocky, muscular figures in this piece do not coincide with the lithe ideal body type preferred by mannerists.^[8] Yael Even states that Michelangelo even went so far as to imbue the mourning female figures present in the painting with a more masculine quality.^[9]

Newer interpretations

These frescoes were largely ignored for centuries and incurred a great deal of damage due to neglect. In the early twentieth century there were some scholars who came to reconsider the frescoes under the new light of expressionism and abstraction. The frescoes were restored in 1934 as a result of this newfound interest and the subsequent appreciation the paintings garnered.^[10] It was not until fairly recently (in the late 1980s) that a scholar by the name of William Wallace proposed an entirely new perspective on the subject. Wallace claims that the disproportionate quality of the figures is not a failing on the part of Michelangelo, but rather another instance of his genius. It is not even an instance of something new. In this particular case, Michelangelo used proportion in order to compensate for certain discrepancies caused by different perspectives. He designed the frescoes in accordance to what the viewer on the ground would see rather than the “ideal” frontal view most people see in photographs or reproductions.^[11] This proclivity for manipulating proportions for the sake of perspective or aggrandizing effects is something Michelangelo is known for. He has notably employed these methods with the Moses statue he carved for the tomb of Pope Julius II.^[12]

Time and space

According to Wallace, the real innovation in this piece comes from the incorporation of time and space in the overall composition of the frescos. He postulates that Michelangelo designed the composition for these frescoes with the notion that they would be viewed as one walks down the center aisle of the narrow chapel in a processional manner. The appearance of both frescoes changes significantly as one walks from one end of the chapel to the other.^[13] The most popular point of contention in the case of The Crucifixion of St. Peter is the inordinately large representation of Peter himself. While Peter is in fact grossly disproportionate from the “ideal” frontal view, he is perfectly proportionate (and more important, always visible) from every other vantage point. Michelangelo actually used perspective to make the image something one can experience over time, giving it a somewhat “cinematic quality.”^[14]

Architectural and environmental context

Wallace states that in addition to conceiving of these frescoes in terms of perspective, Michelangelo also took into consideration the architectural and environmental context they were to be set in. The Conversion of St. Saul (or St. Paul) is often discussed in conjunction with The Crucifixion of St. Peter. In large part this is because the two frescoes were commissioned together, but this can also be attributed to how the two images were created as foils of one another. The Conversion of St. Paul (as its title suggests) represents the conversion of a lawyer from Tarsus named Saul (a man who prosecuted Christians) into a follower of Christ.^[15] In the book of Acts Paul states that he saw an impossibly bright light and heard the voice of Christ himself. The blindingly bright light is the Apex of this story; it is because of this that Michelangelo chose to situate this painting on the Western wall with the eastern exposure – so that the lunette situated above The Crucifixion of St. Peter would provide a bright light to illuminate it throughout the day. Conversely, with The Crucifixion of St. Peter being a much darker story, it is situated on the eastern wall that faces west. Due to the obstruction caused by an adjacent building, this fresco is only lit for a very limited period of time at the very end of the day.^[16] Some speculate that this is part of the reason why it has been overlooked for so long. Wallace proposes that Michelangelo intended for this contrasting darkness to highlight the severity of the subject matter.

Limited accessibility

Ultimately, despite the efforts of contemporary scholars to illustrate the genius behind these works, they remain relatively obscure. This is due primarily to the fact that tourists are not permitted to enter the Pauline chapel because it is a sacred space. Most of those who do know of these works will never have the opportunity to see them in person. According to Williams no other work by Michelangelo has ever been so grossly misrepresented in reproductions. The only way to view these works as the artist intended them to be seen is to see them in situ.^[17]

References

^ 'Michelangelo self-portrait' discovered in restored Vatican fresco, The Times, 2 July 2009.
^ Howard Hibbard,Michelangelo (Cambridge,Mass: Harper & Row, 1985),276.
^ Leo Steinberg,Michelangelo's Last Paintings: The Conversion of St. Paul and the Crucifixion of St. Peter in the Capellina Paolina, Vatican palace. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975),47.
^ Margaret Kuntz,"Designed for Ceremony: The Capella Paolina at the Vatican Palace." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 02 (June 2003):242.
^ Giorgio Vasari.The Lives of the Artists Translated by Georgé Bull (Condor 1965),384.
^ Steinberg,Michelangelo's Last Paintings,47.
^ Steinberg,Michelangelo's Last Paintings, 17.
^ Steinberg,Michelangelo's Last Paintings, 18.
^ Yael Even,"The Heroine as Hero in Michelangelo's Art."Woman's Art Journal. 01 (1990):29.
^ Steinberg,Michelangelo's Last Paintings,18.
^ William E. Wallace."Narrative and Religious Expression in Michelangelo's Pauline Chapel."Arbitus et Historiae. 19 (1989):114-115.
^ Erwin Panofsky, "The First Two Projects of Michelangelo's Tomb of Julius II." The Art Bulletin.04 (1937):577.
^ Wallace,"Narrative and Religious,"117.
^ Wallace,"Narrative and Religious,"111.
^ Hibbard,Michelangelo, 275.
^ Wallace,"Narrative and Religious,"111.
^ Wallace,"Narrative and Religious,"119.

External links

Michelangelo

List of works
✻ attributed
†lost

Sculptures

Florence, c. 1488–1492	Head of a Faun† Madonna of the Stairs Battle of the Centaurs Crucifix
Bologna, 1494–1495	Additions to the Arca di San Domenico St Petronius St Proclus Angel
Rome, 1496–1500	Sleeping Cupid† Bacchus Standing Cupid† Pietà
Florence, 1501–1505	David Madonna of Bruges Additions to the Piccolomini Altarpiece Saints Peter, Paul, Pius and Gregory Pitti Tondo Taddei Tondo St. Matthew Rothschild Bronzes
Tomb of Julius II, 1505–1545	Moses Rebellious Slave Dying Slave Young Slave Bearded Slave Atlas Slave Awakening Slave The Genius of Victory Rachel Leah
Florence, 1516–1534	Christ Carrying the Cross Medici Chapel Giuliano de' Medici Night Day Dusk Dawn Medici Madonna Apollo Crouching Boy
Rome, 1534–1564	Brutus Florentine Pietà Palestrina Pietà ✻ Rondanini Pietà

Paintings

Panel paintings	The Torment of Saint Anthony Manchester Madonna The Entombment Doni Tondo Leda and the Swan†
Salone dei Cinquecento	Battle of Cascina†
Sistine Chapel (ceiling gallery)	Ceiling Separation of Light from Darkness The Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Plants The Creation of Adam Prophet Daniel Prophet Isaiah Prophet Jeremiah Prophet Joel Prophet Jonah The Last Judgment
Pauline Chapel	The Crucifixion of St. Peter The Conversion of Saul

Architecture

Florence	New Sacristy and Laurentian Library in the Basilica of San Lorenzo
Rome	Capitoline Museums Piazza del Campidoglio Palazzo Farnese St. Peter's Basilica Tor San Michele ✻ San Giovanni dei Fiorentini Porta Pia Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri

Works on paper, milieu, etc.

Works on paper	Study of a Kneeling Nude Girl for The Entombment Male Back with a Flag Studies for the Libyan Sibyl The Punishment of Tityus Pietà for Vittoria Colonna Epifania
Milieu	Cecchino dei Bracci Tommaso dei Cavalieri Vittoria Colonna Ascanio Condivi Gherardo Perini Sebastiano del Piombo Febo di Poggio Luigi del Riccio
Related	Art patronage of Julius II Casa Buonarroti Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects Michelangelo and the Medici Replicas of David Replicas of the Pietà Restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescoes The Titan: Story of Michelangelo (1950 documentary) The Agony and the Ecstasy (1961 novel, 1965 film) A Season of Giants (1990 TV film) Michelangelo quadrangle

This page was last edited on 2 April 2023, at 09:36

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