During the Middle Ages going onto the Renaissance most artwork in especially paintings in Italy were devoted to religious motives towards Christianity. Due to the major influence of Christianity the two paintings of the Sistine chapel ceiling and the Maesta were created. The most important difference between the two paintings is that the Sistine ceiling is to be seen by everyone who walks in to the chapel, while the Maesta is an exclusive painting only allowing one side to be seen by the clergy only. Both works were produced in a society where the more prestigious religious art you have within a city the more wealth it shows within your city, where Christianity was the centered focused. The paintings follow Christianity as its central focus, …show more content…
The reason the painter Michelangelo did this was for Pope Julius the second in order for the Pope to show the reclaiming of Rome’s former glory, also the Pope gave no choice to Michelangelo to refuse the order to paint. The chapel has the exact dimensions of the Temple of Solomon, as detailed in Christianity's Old Testament: 40 feet wide by 130 feet long showing how committed the Pope wanted the painting to be in order for everyone to see the glory of Rome. Even though Michelangelo was from Florence where the painters there study the style of naturalism of the human body and oddly enough Michelangelo perfected his art as a sculptor, but due to his reputation the Pope gets whatever he wants and that included Michelangelo to paint the Sistine ceiling. Meanwhile the painters in Siena had their own style of painting where their style of paint was different than what was used in the Sistine ceiling and the painting of the Maesta. The style Michelangelo used was depicting the human body as an image of God based on the Christian bible verse of Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them,” which greatly influences Michelangelo’s style of painting . Also, Michelangelo includes the paintings of the Ignudi’s in order to express …show more content…
Knowing that one side could only be seen by the clergy depicts the exclusiveness of the church before the Renaissance when the Sistine ceiling was painted showing how the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages was so exclusive among other people that it made its clergy to be as pure as possible banning the clergy from marriage and other actions that were considered worldly. Knowing this shows how the painter Duccio painted one side for the people and one side for the clergy as he was directed to do. Since, the Maesta is two centuries older than the Sistine Chapel ceiling; the form of exhibition used was completely different where it was Polyptych that is, a painting on many panels. Instead of fresco, Duccio used tempura and gold. The work was not only large, but the central panel was 7 by 13 feet, but it had to be painted on both sides since it could be seen from all directions when installed on the main altar at the Centre of the chapel. The reason why the Sienses use the tempura and the gold was to show the wealth of their city to visitors compared to the Sistine ceiling where it was used to unite Italy and show the glory of Rome. Siena had a unique style that emphasized ornate surfaces, graceful lines, elongated figures and the heavy use of gold. The elites in the