Art Prints: Michelangelo

The Renaissance was a period in history marked by cultural enlightenment, social change and most of all, economic prosperity. It developed after the dark period of the Middle Ages where culture and the economy were dominated mostly by the church and a noble fiefdom. This economic class system and major religious cultural influence was made worse by the deadly effects of the bubonic plague. Fortunately, after the plague, a dominant middle class began to form, stimulating the economy as tradesmen, bankers, accountants and guilders. Because of their newly acquired wealth and comfort, this new middle class were wealthy enough for leisure, education, arts and entertainment.  This development of cultural life and demand for art formulated the rebirth or the “renaissance” of the classical ideals of the Greco-Roman Period.
Florence in particular, became a model city for the Renaissance at it was home to a proliferation of artists, philosophers and writers. One of the greatest and most famous writers of this period was the artist, Michelangelo. Of course, Michelangelo Buonarroti’s most famous is undoubtedly the 300 or more images he painted on the vault of Pope Julius II’s Sistine Chapel. Initially turning the commission down as the artist thought himself to be more of a sculptor, Michelangelo was swayed by his close relationship to the Pope. He began the work in May 1508, a month after he was assigned the commission. After firing all his assistants and redoing work between 1508 and January of 1509, Michelangelo began to paint the most demanding and torturous piece of his life. He finally finished the work in 1512. The entire work is said to be constantly alive, filled with vivid, living images and glorious scenes from the bible. These are said to include nine scenes from the Book of Genesis; starting with God Separating Light from Darkness, The Creation of Adam and Eve, the Temptation and the Fall of Adam and Eve.
It is worth visiting the Sistine Chapel in Rome to see Michelangelo’s moving, biblical ceiling but if budget does not permit the trip today, there are museum shops that use postcard printing services to sell postcards in standard or oversized prints. A cheaper, more convenient way to acquire prints is to avail of online postcards printing services that offer custom or standard sized prints and bindings.