Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

Prophet Isaiah (Michelangelo)

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Year
  
circa 1508–1512

Artist
  
Michelangelo

Created
  
1512

Genre
  
Christian art

Type
  
Fresco

Location
  
Sistine Chapel

Period
  
High Renaissance

Prophet Isaiah (Michelangelo) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Dimensions
  
390 cm × 380 cm (150 in × 150 in)

Similar
  
Michelangelo artwork, Artwork at Sistine Chapel, Fresco

Raphael the prophet isaiah fresco in the church of st augustine in rome manortiz


The Prophet Isaiah is one of the seven Old Testament prophets painted by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo (c. 1542–1545) on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The Sistine Chapel is in Vatican Palace, in the Vatican City. Elements of this fresco have inspired various artists, including Caravaggio and Norman Rockwell in his famous Rosie the Riveter illustration.

Contents

This particular fresco figure is painted fourth on the right from the side of the High Altar. Michelangelo's imagining bursts with movement, as Isaiah's cloak swirls around him. The colors in the portrayal – especially after the restoration – strike us as cool and luminous. The figure holds a distinctive blue book to his side, perhaps a depiction of the biblical Book of Isaiah.

This painting has been held in particularly high regard by critics. Vasari said of it: "Anyone who studies this figure, copied so faithfully from nature, the true mother of the art of painting, will find a beautifully composed work capable of teaching in full measure all the precepts to be followed by a good painter". If compared to Raphael's imagining of the same figure, Michelangelo's portrayal seems far more fluid and less muscular, as well as brighter in color.

Roma raffaello il profeta isaia raphael the prophet isaiah manortiz


References

Prophet Isaiah (Michelangelo) Wikipedia