Jonah and Zachariah on the Sistine Ceiling: An attempt at a new interpretation of Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel

JONAH AND ZACHARIAH ON THE SISTINE CEILING An attempt at a new interpretation of Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel In our paper "Nicholas of Lyra and Michelangelo's Ancestors of Christ'^we tried to demonstrate that any interpretation of the meaning of the fresco series generally called the "Ancestors of Christ" below the Sistine ceiling must be based upon the explanations of their names by Nicholas of Lyra, the famous Franciscan commentator of the Holy Scriptures, whose Postillae Perpetuae in Universam Sanctam Scripturam were the most widely read BibUcal commentary in the days of Michelangelo, and were printed during his lifetime in more editions than any other book save the Holy Scriptures themselves.2 We closed our discussion with the remark that the meaning of the whole decoration of the Sistine Chapel had been changed when the old paintings on the wall behind the altar were replaced by Michelangelo's Last Judgment. It is one of the aims of this paper to correct this opinion which we now consider erroneous. A further aim is to show that the influence of Nicholas of Lyra's writings can be detected not only in the representations of the ancestors, but almost everywhere on the ceUing, and, finally, we aim to arrive at an interpretation of the whole composition which will do justice to all its detaüs. The decoration consists of: the imposing figures of seven prophets and five sibyls, the tablets with their names held by youthful bearers; the central stories of the creation of the world and of man, and of the history of Noah; the four stories painted in the corner-spandrels; the medaUion-stories; the series of frescoes depicting the ancestors of the Lord; the famous nudes, the bronze nudes, and the Uttle chüdrencaryatids . AU these are incorporated into the architectonic design. We hold the theory that the prophets are represented as referring to the 1 Franciscan Studies (September, 1944) pp. 223 ff. 8 Since the numerous editions are based upon different manuscripts, there are oftentimes more or less slight textual differences between them. Sometimes certain interpretations or commentaries are brought in in full here, and shortened or even omitted there. For the purposes of this paper the following editions were used: Froben & Petri, Basel, 1498, and Francisais Renner, Venice, 1482—3. Since the pages in both editions are not numbered, the references are made to those passages which accompany the biblical text mirrored in the paintings. This procedure is followed, unless the interpretation quoted or referred is brought in in connection with another passage in the Scriptures. Then, a special remark is added. 159 ?6?HARRY B. GUTMAN coming and the ultimate triumph of Christ, whereas the sibyls3 prophesy the Virgin personifying the Church. Besides, both refer, in the wording of their prophecies, to the neighbouring representations as well. The 3 As Tolnay, (TAe Sistine Ceiling, 1945, p. 153) rightly remarks, the sibyls were never considered to be of the same rank as the prophets, and were endowed only with a limited power of prophecy. Nevertheless, there is almost no prophecy to be found in the writing of the prophets which was not here and there also ascribed to one or another of the sibyls. Thus, if we take into consideration all the available sources, every sibyl prophesied almost everything reported in the New Testament. The Delphica, for instance , is credited with prophecies of the birth of the Savior, the Incarnation of the DivineWord, the life and the miracles wrought by Christ, His betrayal, imprisonment, the Passion, His death on the Cross, His resurrection and ascension, the pouring 00 ¿ of the Holy Spirit, etc. We share the opinion of Borinski (Die Rätsel Michelangelos, 1908) and Tolnay (see above) that Michelangelo took his five sibyls from Lactantius. It is not necessary to assume, as Borinski does, that Michelangelo learned of Lactantius through the mediation of some contemporaneous humanist. He could have learned of him through Nicholas of Lyra, who, in various places, refers to him just as he does to other Fathers of the Church or other ancient writers and commentators such as Hrabanus etc. Yet, Michelangelo moved in the circle of the leading theologians of...