Ignudi (decorative nude figures)
by MICHELANGELO

As part of the decorative scheme of the ceiling, above each of the thrones of the sibyls and prophets (except Zechariah and Jonah) are two figures of ignudi, sitting on plinths and bearing garlands of oak leaves and acorns, and of medallions painted to resemble bronze, with episodes drawn from the books of Genesis, Samuel, Kings, and Maccabees. Although it is within the painted architectural structure, their prominent position - contiguous to the nine prophetic visions - means that they cannot be considered as ornamental elements, and suggests that their function is more than the merely heraldic one attributed to them by Vasari. They seem rather to have been conceived as angelic figures in the special acceptation of "intermediary spirits between men and the Godhead" suggested by Charles de Tolnay.

Preview Picture Data Info
Ignudo
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo (detail)
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo (detail)
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo (detail)
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1509
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1509-10
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1509-10
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1509-10
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1509-10
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1511
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1511
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1511
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1511
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1511
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1511
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1511
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican


Ignudo
1511
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican



Summary of works by Michelangelo
All genres
Sculptures | Paintings | Sistine Chapel | Drawings | Architecture
Sculptures
-1501 | 1502- | David | Julius II's Tomb | Medici Tomb | Pietās
Paintings
Easel paintings | Frescoes in Pauline Chapel
Sistine Chapel
Division of the ceiling | Genesis | Prophets | Sibyls | Ignudi
Spandrels | Lunettes | Triangles | Medallions
Last Judgment
Architecture
until 1530 | after 1530



© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.