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| Creation of Adam (Sistine Chapel - ceiling) |
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| Forms of Adam and God |
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| Implied visual connection: Concave and convex |
How do we read this composition?
The viewer's eye reads this scene from left to right. As we coarse through Adam's undulating left arm, we are met with the powerfully aimed finger of God. Our eyes are forced to retreat back through the arm of Adam, as if we just encountered a dead-end road sign. If the finger fails to point us back, the stern, confidence in the face of God surely does the trick.
Moving to the left, we eventually find ourselves circling round-about the tilted head of Adam. His eyes direct us back through his Herculean left arm and to the famous meeting of the two fingers. However, this time we are less frightened by the stern glance and finger, and therefore pursue flight through the right arm of God, across his twisted, Zeus-like chest, and into the left arm. This journey takes us back into the womb-like canopy as we follow the arm behind the head of the female he shelters.
Ultimately, this trip reaches its destination in the descent through the twisted, complex left finger of God. We are forced to slow down as our eyes wind through these beautiful curves. Where has Michelangelo taken us? Well, we are led to the shoulder of a young boy, whose glance appears to be attempting contact with us. His left arm, then, angles to the lower-left, this perpetuating the visual flow and also offsets the strong angles / thrusts found in the bodies of Adam and Christ.
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| Young boy - Is this the future Christ-child? |
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| Overall flow: Basically a "figure-eight" |
The highlighted area in the picture below appears to me as an indication of a halo. Despite the lack of a golden aura or the presence of any obvious elliptical form, the gather in the folds is suggestive enough to imply that this is the future Christ-child. Based on this implication, it is rightful to view the female figure nestled between Creator and the child as the Virgin Mary.
If this is, in fact, the case, the message being communicated here is that God is aware of the fact that the creation of Adam into a perfect and sin-free world will be futile and short-lived.... that the fall of mankind will undoubtedly necessitate redemption. This redemption will be made possible through the sacrifice of his only son, through the vessel of the Virgin Mary.
In this perspective, we capture the haunting view of the Virgin's piercing glance at the man who will be responsible for causing the fall for which her own life will be used for atonement.
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| Is this a halo, implied in the folds of the drapery? |
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| Laser eyes! |
Although there exists nothing in between the fully charged hand of God and the limp, lifeless hand of Adam, I sketched a spark connecting the digits. In my opinion, this is
the most famous square inch of painted surface to be found in all of art history.
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| One can hear the sizzle! |
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| I view the gap here as synapse / electrode. |
Notice how the form of Adam is very similar to the left hand of God (which rests on the child's shoulder).
Examine the Sistine Chapel further
