Michelangelo

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hereinstead.com: michelangelo does god

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Michelangelo, God and the Jewish Question: WESTERN MONOTHEISM'S NUMBER ONE MAN

: The next gallary contains Michelangelo's amazing pictures of God from the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel. We at hereinstead.com have long been big fans of Michelangelo's work, especially his representations of famous Jewish men such as Moses and David.

Because of the Second Commandment ban on images, the really religious Jews, of course, did not do any scultures or paintings of God. Muhammad also took the Ten Commandments (and the whole Bible) very seriously, and so Islam still uses only geometric patterns in its religious archicture and decorative arts. That leaves the Christians. They certainly carved and painted lots of images of Jesus and other sacred people. But the Christians also overwhelmingly respected the Second Commandment prohibition on images of what Gore Vidal has called "the sky-god."

But come on, somebody's got to do God's portrait! And by the middle of the 15th century the pressure must have been immense. One thousand five hundred years and no pictures of the main man? And that's not even counting the extra thousand Jewish-only years. Further, it was clear by then that Islam could create a brilliant civilization, but it was never going to do God's portrait.

So there they are in the middle of the Renaissance, rediscovering humanism. There they are rediscovering Greek philosophy, literature and theatre; rediscovering Arabian science, mathematics, and philosophy; rediscovering the enormous powers of human creativity. The Church was part of all that, and besides they've got artists making astonishing sculptures and even some paintings.

It was clear even then that Michelangelo -- a sculptor who also painted -- was the best of the best. Leonardo was a unbelievable genius, Donatelo was divine, and Raphael was awesome, but Michelangelo was even better. He was the greatest graphic artist -- sculptor and painter -- who ever lived. And they knew it.

So ... the Pope commissoned Michelangelo for the job of doing God's portrait. In effect, the Pope hired the Michael Jordon of art to paint God's portrait. And we should all be grateful.

But poor Michelangelo had to suffer if he was to have this honor....

[To be continued.......]

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"Michelangelo Does God"

Michelangelo Does God
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