Under siege: the aesthetics and politics of Michelangelo’s attack on Flemish painting
Under siege: the aesthetics and politics of Michelangelo’s attack on Flemish painting
Puts Michelangelo's infamous attack on Flemish painting in context. The anarchy and philistinism which he imputes to Flemish painting draws on a historic association between those who lived north of the Alps with the Goths and Vandals who destroyed ancient Rome. Their modern mercenary descendants were still invading Italy, and their artforms - musical as well as visual - had done so too. However, Michelangelo’s main concern was not so much with Flemish art per se, as with the fact that it was so influential on Italian artists. These artists included Michelangelo himself, and the ferocity of his attack is due in large measure to the problems he was encountering while painting that most crowded of subjects - the Last Judgment. To make matters worse, he was working in the Sistine Chapel, filled with supreme examples of Flemish visual and musical culture.
Michelangelo, Flemish Art, Sistine Chapel, Cultural Nationalism
45-88
Hall, James
48dd240e-f874-4d3a-9c4a-17464d5d14c6
1 July 2020
Hall, James
48dd240e-f874-4d3a-9c4a-17464d5d14c6
Hall, James
(2020)
Under siege: the aesthetics and politics of Michelangelo’s attack on Flemish painting.
Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for Art History, 42 (1/2), .
Abstract
Puts Michelangelo's infamous attack on Flemish painting in context. The anarchy and philistinism which he imputes to Flemish painting draws on a historic association between those who lived north of the Alps with the Goths and Vandals who destroyed ancient Rome. Their modern mercenary descendants were still invading Italy, and their artforms - musical as well as visual - had done so too. However, Michelangelo’s main concern was not so much with Flemish art per se, as with the fact that it was so influential on Italian artists. These artists included Michelangelo himself, and the ferocity of his attack is due in large measure to the problems he was encountering while painting that most crowded of subjects - the Last Judgment. To make matters worse, he was working in the Sistine Chapel, filled with supreme examples of Flemish visual and musical culture.
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Michelangelo Flemish Simiolus
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Simiolus 42-1 James Hall Michelangelo Flemish
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Accepted/In Press date: 1 October 2019
Published date: 1 July 2020
Keywords:
Michelangelo, Flemish Art, Sistine Chapel, Cultural Nationalism
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Local EPrints ID: 438443
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/438443
PURE UUID: 562cab1e-a7b4-4549-a165-3c3f80689d41
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Date deposited: 10 Mar 2020 17:31
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 07:00
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