The Sistine Secrets (38 page)

WHAT MICHELANGELO MIGHT HAVE CALLED IT

We can only wonder what Michelangelo’s title for the giant fresco work would have been if he had felt free enough to make it public. Without fear of the Church’s retribution, what would have summarized for him in but a few words the true meaning of the biblical panorama that conveyed his daring vision, his universalistic idealism, his contempt for ecclesiastic corruption and Vatican immorality?

Michelangelo knew that the Florentine architect Baccio Pontelli, along with the anonymous designers of the Kabbalistic cosmatesque floor, had created a sanctuary linked to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. In the Talmud, that Temple was described with a remarkable metaphor. It was called “the neck of the world” (Tractate Megillah, 16b). The neck connects the head with the body, the upper with the lower. So, too, the Temple serves as the link between heaven and earth, between the spiritual and the material, between God and humanity. The original team of fresco artists, almost all Florentines sent under the direction of Lorenzo de’ Medici, were intrigued by the concept of linkage. They connected the life of Moses with the life of Jesus. That paved the way for Michelangelo to develop much further his recognition of the Judaic roots of the Christian faith. The relationship between the two faiths, the “mother religion” and its offspring, and the more inclusionary outlook this perspective engendered were of paramount importance to the great student of Pico della Mirandola. The idea of the neck as symbol must have appealed to Michelangelo, especially if Pico had taught him its deeper meaning in Kabbalah: “The neck turns the head.” This means that the head, the thoughts, the mind, and the intellect all revolve in accord with the direction the neck imposes. The Temple is “the neck of the world” its moral imperatives must guide the intellectual decisions of humanity.

Were it not for its odd-sounding and ungainly imagery, one might almost imagine “The Neck of the World” as a suitable title for Michelangelo to describe his message. However, given his love for both ancient Roman simplicity and Italian poetry, it is quite unlikely. Fortunately, there is a far more fitting word that can do justice to the artist’s aspirations. In fact, it is a word that played a crucial role in the very creation of his Sistine masterpiece. Understanding how high Michelangelo was aiming with his frescoes, we modestly suggest that if he had dared to give the giant artwork a title he might have called it “The Bridge.”

THE BRIDGE

There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the
bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.

—THORNTON WILDER,
The Bridge of San Luis Rey

When Michelangelo came along a generation after the original fresco masters, he took on the almost-impossible task of linking the whole Sistine Chapel together. To accomplish this, he had to engineer an amazing “flying arch” bridge scaffolding from which to create his works. No one else was able to figure out how this could be done. No one after him could replicate his amazing feat. Michelangelo’s bridge is regarded as an engineering miracle to this day. How appropriate for the very same Michelangelo to have accomplished a similar miracle in creating the bridge between faiths that is perhaps the major message of his masterpiece.

With his genius, Michelangelo built many bridges of the spirit. He infused his ceiling fresco with Kabbalistic images that reflected the Kabbalistic pavement design below. He linked the Jewish ancestral tree to Jesus. He connected pagan philosophy and design with Judaism and Christianity. He joined his love of male beauty to his love of God. He narrated the entire story of the universe, beginning with creation, in a way that makes us realize humanity’s common ancestry.

Michelangelo knew that for the Church to fulfill the will of God, it had to become a paradigm of true brotherhood. There had to be a bridge between rich and poor, between privileged and downtrodden, between those who ostensibly spoke for God and those who desperately needed divine assistance. Thus, Michelangelo filled the chapel with hidden messages of his passionate loves and his righteous rages, along with mystic symbols of divine justice and divine mercy. For him, the Sistine was indeed the Sanctuary, the neck of the world, but more than that, it was “The Bridge”—the bridge meant to unite people with God, with their fellow humans, and, perhaps most difficult of all, with their own spiritual selves.

All the world is a very narrow bridge / The point is this—to have no fear.

These are the words of an ancient Hebrew song. They have become more appropriate with every passing generation. Almost exactly five hundred years ago, a tormented soul named Michelangelo built a very narrow bridge in the middle of the air in the middle of a chapel in the middle of Rome. This resulted in a masterwork that would change the world of art forever. However, that was not his goal. What this lone artist wanted to do was construct a giant bridge of the spirit, spanning different faiths, cultures, eras, and sexualities. With this book, we humbly hope to lay the last piece in place—to make his bridge, his message, and his dream complete.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Jacob went along his way and angels of G-d met him….

—GENESIS 32:2

Behold, I am sending an angel ahead of you, to protect you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

—EXODUS 23:20

When journeying, a traditional Jew recites these verses as part of the traveler’s prayers. While we were traveling on the path of this book, many “angels” helped us along the way as well.

We both want to thank our resolute agent, Don Gastwirth, for his passionate enthusiasm for this project from the beginning, to Michael Medved for recommending him, and to Hugh Van Dusen for being our “good shepherd.”

Words alone can’t fully express the depths of our gratitude—and admiration—to the wonderful team at HarperOne that brought it all together and helped make it happen. We have the feeling that Michelangelo himself must have pulled heavenly strings to link us with people like our incomparable editor and unflagging friend, the
maestro
of the HarperOne
bottega,
Roger Freet, and his assistants Kris Ashley and Jan Weed; the amazing Claudia Boutote and Patricia Rose, who continue to surprise us with their ability to get the news out about the importance and historic significance of this book; to Terri Leonard, Lisa Zuniga, and Ralph Fowler for their magnificent production work and interior design; and to Jim Warner and Claudine Mansour for a cover design the likes of which has never been seen before and which we are certain will become a collector’s item.

Heartfelt thanks to Jack Pesso for bringing us together, and to Milly and Vito Arbib for hosting our crucial first meeting.

Roy would like to add special thanks to many friends and scholars for specific insights, especially Raffaele Donati and Simone Mimun, and to Francesco Giuffrida for his invaluable technical advice and moral support. Also, to David Walden and Brenda Bohen and the cultural association Rome for Jews (www.romeforjews.com) for their vital support, and to Luca Del Giudice for hosting during my stays in Rome.
Mille grazie
to the gracious staff of the Vatican Museums, and to the Halfon, Voci, and Bassano families for their
gentilezza
that has made Rome a home for me.
Toda rabba
to my coauthor for the enormous honor and pleasure of learning and writing together. Of course, no mere thanks could suffice for all the love and support from my two guardian angels, Martha and Marvin Usdin. Last, a thank-you to the skeptics for asking the most difficult and thought-provoking questions.

In addition to the above, Rabbi Blech wants to express profound thanks to Gary Krupp, whose dedication to the ideals of Pave the Way—the organization he founded to “embrace the similarities and savor the differences” of every religion in order to foster brotherhood and understanding between all faiths—made possible my being in Rome, meeting with Pope John Paul II, and ultimately getting together with Roy on what I truly consider a divinely ordained project. Special angels behind the scene were Dr. Ed Steinberg, Norman Weisfeld, and Jim Reckert. There are no words for me to convey my respect, admiration, and friendship for my coauthor; working with him was both a joy and a privilege. Finally, not a day goes by that I do not thank God for the gift of my wife, who by her constant encouragement made all my accomplishments possible and with her love made them meaningful.

—Benjamin Blech
Roy Doliner

NOTES

Chapter 2: The Lost Language of Art

1. Federico Zeri,
Titian: Sacred and Profane Love
(Rizzoli, 1998).

2. Francesca Marini,
Uffizi
(Rizzoli, 2006), 85.

Chapter 3: A Rebel Is Born

1. Giorgio Vasari,
The Lives of the Artists,
translated with an introduction and notes by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella (Oxford Univ. Press, 1991).

Chapter 4: A Very Special Education

1. Roberto G. Salvadori,
The Jews of Florence
(Giuntina Press, 2001), 30.

2. Matilde Battistini.
Losapevi dell’arte
(book series under the direction of Stefano Zuffi)
Simboli e allegorie-prima parte
(Mondadori Electa, 2002), 6.

3. Ross King,
Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling
(Penguin Books, 2003), 22.

4. Jack Lang,
Il Magnifico
(Mondadori, 2002).

5. Ascanio Condivi.
Vita di Michelagnolo Buonarroti
(Giovanni Nencioni, 1998).

6. Ascanio Condivi.
Vita di Michelagnolo Buonarroti
(Giovanni Nencioni, 1998).

Chapter 5: Out of the Garden and into the World

1. Howard Hibbard,
Michelangelo
(Westview Press, 1974), 16.

Chapter 6: As Fate Would Have It

1. Garabed Eknoyan, “Michelangelo: Art, Anatomy, and the Kidney,”
Kidney International
57, no. 3 (2000); www.nature.com.

2.
The Sistine Chapel
(Edizioni Musei Vaticani, 2000), 26.

3. Wikipedia, s.v. “Sistine Chapel.”

4. James M. Saslow, trans.,
The Poetry of Michelangelo: An Annotated Translation
(Yale Univ. Press, 1991).

Chapter 8: The Vault of Heaven

1. Philo,
De Opificio Mundi,
in
The Works of Philo,
trans. C. D. Yonge (Hendrickson, 1993).

2. Porphyry,
Life of Plotinus 2.

Chapter 9: The House of David

1. Edward Maeder, “The Costumes Worn by the Ancestors of Christ,” in
The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration
(Abradale Press, 1999), 194–223.

Chapter 12: The Middle Path

1. Gershom Scholem,
On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism
(Schocken Books, 1965).

Conclusion: So, What
Is
the Sistine Chapel?

1. Howard Hibbard,
Michelangelo
(Westview Press, 1974), 105.

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