The Divine Wisdom of in " of " Author(s): Maria Rzepińska Source: Artibus et Historiae, Vol. 15, No. 29 (1994), pp. 181-187 Published by: IRSA s.c. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1483492 . Accessed: 28/08/2011 13:02

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http://www.jstor.org MARIARZEPINSKA

The Divine Wisdom of Michelangelo in The Creationof Adam

The reemergence of long obscured details in Michel- from the Doni Tondo,de Tolnaysays, and he concludes angelo's newly cleaned frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine that just as the female figure is the idea of , so the putto is Chapel has prompted fresh interest in the ideological pro- the idea of Christ.3Michelangelo thus intended to convey the gram as a whole.' The focus of this article is one such detail in Platonic view that these two ideas had already preexisted in The Creation of Adam [Figs. 1-2]. This is a female figure sur- 's mind.4 rounded by smaller figures enveloped in the windblown Another interpretation of the puzzling female figure has mantle of the Creator,and identifiableas putti or angels. They been offered by Jane Schuyler,who maintainsthat in the read- are shown with in all the scenes of Creation ing of the Sistine ceiling program, Neoplatonic elements except the first. While their number and placement vary and should be supplemented by cabalistic ones.5 Her reasoning their role is not quite clear, they are always boys. Here, how- is as follows: "Cabaladiffers from traditionalJudaism in the ever, in their midst is unmistakablya woman and a very lovely belief that God's nature has male and female elements. The one at that. The Creatorembraces her with his left arm. Only right is considered the male, active side of the tree of the her head, breast, hand, and bent knee are visible. Her face is Lord's body, while the left is the female and passive side." turned towards Adam with an expression of intense concen- This left side is also associated with evil. The latter is likewise tration [Fig. 3]. present in God himself, since God (En Sof, the Infinite, the Most Michelangelo scholars have overlooked this figure. Unknowable), encompasses all, including good and evil.6 Some mention it only as a "beautifulfemale ."2De Tolnay, According to Schuyler,the female element, identifiedwith on the other hand, writes, "It is very likely that the young the left, is illustratedon the Sistine ceiling three times, includ- woman who looks with fascination at Adam is a representa- ing the figure under discussion in The Creation of Adam.7 tive of Eve, or rather of the 'idea' of Eve." He observes that Schuyler believes the latter is the Shekhina, which emerges God singles out one of the putti by touching its shoulder with from God's left side just as Eve emerged from Adam's. In the the fingers of his left hand. The putto resembles the Infant Cabala, the Shekhina is the female component of the divine

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1) Michelangelo Buonarroti, (cTheCreation of Adam)), , Vatican, .

nature, an element of God himself, whose nature is bisexual, the sephira, but at the same time she possesses sinister fea- constituting the hierogamous unity of contradictory ele- tures.9 In view of the "characterological"implications, it is im- ments-the male and the female. In the occult books based probable that Michelangelo would have had in mind this of all on the Cabala, God, identified with the sephirothic Tree of images when paintingthe female figure. Life, was frequently represented by a diagram of ten inter- In any case, there is no indication of any interest on his penetrating circles denoting the ten sephiroth, or divine ema- part in the Cabala.10David Summers includes on the list of nations.8 The ninth sephira was the Shekhina. what the artist is known with certainty to have read Dante's Schuyler writes: Divine Comedy and CristoforoLandino's platonizing commen- tary on it, as well as II convivio, Petrarch's poetry, and the As a result of her closeness to the Lord,the Shekhina is writings of Savonarola.11 It is clear from remarks cited by identifiedwith the community of Israel,the nuptialJewish Michelangelo's biographers that he also knew the work of Ecclesia, and the neshameh, the spiritusof the highest part Alberti, Pomponio Gaurico, Pliny, Vitruvius, and Marsilio of the tripartitesoul. In Michelangelo'sscene she turns her Ficino's commentary on Plato's Symposium, but that he was head around to view Adam, who has just been imbued first and foremost an avid reader of the Old and New Testa- with the neshameh (herself). Her hand affectionately en- ments-undoubtedly in the Vulgate, for it has been estab- circles the Lord'sleft arm as if to suggest that she lovingly lished that he knew Latinwell. His biography and letters dem- accepts a part in 's redemption. onstrate that he was a deeply religious man and placed high value on the true Christianlife. ButSchuyler's identificationis not convincing.Judaic schol- Nor do the Neoplatonic elements which researchers have ars point out the ambivalent characterof the Shekhina. She is discovered in his paintings and sculptures contradict this in-

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2) Michelangelo Buonarroti,((The Creation of Adam)), detail, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome.

ference in the least. Summers rightly recalls that to be a ment, and Messianic foreshadowing was read into various Platonist in the Renaissance, one did not have to study Plato pagan prophecies and oracles. Therefore, the presence of or even Plotinus directly. Platonism was kept alive and ex- the on the Sistine ceiling not only caused no surprise panded upon down through the .12 Attempts to but presumably met with the unreserved approval of the pope reconcile Plato and Aristotle with the , and the philoso- and his theological advisers.14 In this cultural context, the in- phy of late antiquity with the Revelation, reached their apo- clusion of pagan or Platonic elements in the story of the Cre- gee in the writings of the Florentine humanists of the Renais- ation is quite orthodox.15 sance. But theologians also took for granted the study of As for Michelangelo himself, contemporary records show ancient philosophers, poets, and rhetoricians alongside that that his faith was not only fervent but also wholly subordinate of the Bible.13 For the clergy at the papal court the Old Testa- to the teachings of the Church.Letters written by the artist to ment served mainly as the prefiguration of the New Testa- his family during the painting of the Sistine Chapel contain no

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3) Michelangelo Buonarroti,((The Creation of Adam)), detail, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome.

184 THEDIVINE WISDOM OF MICHELANGELO referenceto his artisticideas, but he repeatedlyasks for a prayer the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his "thathe may please the pope" and succeed in his work.16 commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the Knowing that Michelangelo was deeply religious and fa- earth: Then Iwas by him, as one brought up with him: and miliarwith the Scriptures, Julius IImust have had equal con- I was daily his delight, rejoicingalways before him: Rejoic- fidence in both the artist's talent and his ideological program. ing in the habitablepart of his earth; and my delights were This is clear from a letter of Michelangelo's in 1523 in which with the sons of men. he describes the commissioning of the Sistine ceiling. At first the pope proposed a scene with the twelve Apostles, but These are the words of Sophia, or Divine Wisdom, she Michelangelo regarded the idea as "too modest." Julius then who accompanied the Lord from the beginning of Creation, changed his mind and gave Michelangelo free reign to do as and who may well be portrayedhere.18 She alone is so close to he saw fit: "Allorami dette nuova commissione ch'io facessi the Lord'sside, and her alert, intelligentface looks attentively ci6 ch'io volevo, e che mi contenterebbe, e ch'io dipignessi at the first of the "sons of men"created by God, whose face is insino alle storie di sotto."17Not only did Michelangelo gain serene and joyful in this only. the freedom to choose his own subject matter but he also I believe that the identificationof the female figure as Di- received permission to paint a much larger area. The "storie vine Wisdom is indeed the most probable, even if it may strike di sotto" refer to works by painters of episodes some as too simplistic. Corroborationappears to lie in recent from the lives of and Christ. So much trust shown by studies by historians of religion, summed up by J. O'Malley. the head of the Church obligated Michelangelo to do his ut- He rejects-perhaps too radically-the prevailingNeoplatonic most; it is therefore understandable that he wanted his father interpretation of historians in favor of the view that to pray that his son might satisfy the pope in every respect. Michelangelo must have relied on a theologian or group of In view of these circumstances, it is most unlikely that clergy for advice, a logical supposition in light of the impor- Michelangelo would have drawn his inspirationfor the Cre- tance of the commission. O'Malleyacknowledges that careful ation scenes from any source other than the Bible, even if he examination of the archives produced nothing definitive,other did not strictly follow its chronology of events. (Even Vasari than the proposal of such names as Egidio di Viterbo and and Condivi were unsure of how to interpret some of the CardinalMarco Vigerio.19 scenes.) But despite the lack of established proof, it is unthinkable Thus, it is not necessary to refer to either the Cabalists or that the pope and his court would not have taken an interest in the Platoniststo understandwhat Michelangelowanted to show the orthodoxy of the fresco programduring the more than four by paintinga beautifulfemale figure at the side of the Lord.The years of its execution. Moreover,both Vasariand Condivirefer following passage is from the Book of Proverbs (VIII:22-31): solely to Biblicalsources for the frescoes. The former says the scenes were drawn from the Book of Samuel, while the latter The Lordpossessed me in the beginning of his way, before claims they represent "quasitutto il Vecchio Testamento."Ac- his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the cording to O'Malley,some episodes in the lower parts of the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no ceiling derive from the Book of Maccabees.20 depths, I was brought forth; when there were fountains Notwithstandingthe presumable participationof members abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, of the clergy in the program,because Michelangelo had full or before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had nearly full freedom to select the episodes to be included, it not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of may be supposed that it was his own idea to use a passage the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I from the Book of Proverbs in The Creationof Adam. Perhaps it was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the fascinated the artist-himself a poet-with its rare beauty, and depth: When he established the clouds above: when he in his ravishingportrayal of Divine Wisdom on the Sistine ceil- strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to ing, he created a worthy equivalent.

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1 The predominanttendency in the past was to interpretthe pro- the complement and opposition to the male element, and as passivity gram in the spiritof Neoplatonism,as did C. de Tolnay,Michelangelo, relatedto the demonic "leftside." Scholem remarksthat the left side is Princeton,1969, I (withbibliography). M. A. Hettner,Italienische Studien not consistently identifiedwith evil. It is certain, however, that in the zur Geschichte der Renaissance, Braunschweig,1879, was the first to image of the Shekhinafrom cabalisticwritings, ambivalent as it is, dark, indicate Platonicelements. demonic features predominate,sometimes makingit resemble "eastern 2 See G. Brandes, Michelangelo, His Life, His Times, His Era, monsters,"while it also echoes very ancient cosmic lunarsymbolism; New York,1967, p. 260. See also J. Wilde,Michelangelo: Six Lectures, see Scholem, Vonder mystischen Gestalt,p. 186. , 1978, chapter on "The Sistine Ceiling,"pp. 48-84; in this de- 10 Schuylerassumes that Michelangelocame to know the Cabala tailed study he makes no mention at all of the female figure in The through indirect means, primarilyvia della Mirandola.The latter's Creationof Adam. Nor does F Hartt,Michelangelo, ,1965, writ- Conclusiones Philosophiae, Cabalisticaeet Theologiae, published in ing on the scene (p. 102). 1486, and Heptaplos, which appeared three years later,contained both 3 De Tolnay,Michelangelo, pp. 6-44. It is not clear whether it is cabalisticand Platonicelements. InSchuyler's view, Michelangelomay indeed the prefigurationof Christthat is meant here. De Tolnayignores have read these works duringhis stay in the Via Larga,as well as trans- the fact thatthe discussed putto clasps the woman's knee with its hand, lations of some of the books of the Cabalaowned by Pico himself and which is quite inexplicableif she is either Eve or the idea of her. which were also to be found in Lorenzo'slibrary. Schuyler says that her 4 In support of his thesis, de Tolnay quotes a fragment of interpretationis based on cabalisticelements in Pico's writingsand on CristoforoLandino's commentary to Book XIIIof Dante's //paradiso: works quoted or mentioned by him, and she refers to Sholem, On the "Nelladivina mente e sapientia pongono le cognitionidi tutte le cose, e Kabbalahand Its Symbolism, New York,1965. (Not having access to queste Platone chiama 'idee."'Another source was to be provided by that edition, I rely in this article on the earlier German one; see n. 9, Pico della Mirandola'sHeptaplos, a Platonicinterpretation of the Book above.) of Genesis. De Tolnaymakes clear that it is not certainwhether it was 1 Michelangelo and the Language of Art, Princeton,1981, pp. 9- these texts which Michelangeloused, but the artist's renderingof the 11. act of Creationis close to the Neoplatonic concept found in them. As 12 lbidem, p. 15. 13 we know,Michelangelo lived in the Medicipalace in the Via Largafrom See S. Swieawski, Dzieje filozofiieuropejskiej XV wieku (The 1490 to April8, 1492 (the date of Lorenzo'sdeath), and in this period Story of Fifteenth-CenturyEuropean Philosophy), III, Warsaw, 1978, pp. may have become acquainted with elements of Platonismwhich per- 168-74 ("Plato 174-77 ("Platognosticus'i. 14 christianus"), vaded humanistthought at the CareggiAcademy and the Medicicourt. See J. O'Malley,"II mistero della volta. Gliaffreschi di Michel- s J. Schuyler,"The LeftHand of God: A Reflectionof Cabalain angelo alla luce del pensiero teologico del Rinascimento,"in La capella Michelangelo'sGenesis Scenes," Source, Notes in the History of Art Sistina. I primi restauri: La scoperta del colore, Novara, 1986, pp. 92- VI,no. 1 (Fall1986), pp. 12-19. 148. He points out that the Sibyls had appeared in art before-in the 6 InJewish mysticism, God as the giver of all encompasses both pavement of the cathedralof Siena, for example-but that this is the darkness and light.This idea found expression in magic, alchemy,and first time they were represented in such a prominentplace. art at the turn of the sixteenth century; see M. Rzepiriska,"Tenebrism 15isBut as far as cabalistic doctrines are concerned, even if one in BaroquePainting and ItsIdeological Background,"Artibus etHistoriae assumes that Michelangelolearned of them throughsecondary sources, VII,no. 13 (1986), pp. 91-112. as is probable,it is hardto imaginethat he would have expressed them 7 Eve emerges fromthe left side of Adam,and the serpent, which on the vault of the papel chapel, in the very heart of Christianity.It has a woman's head and upper body, is handingAdam the with should be rememberedthat thirteen of the theses in Pico'sConclusiones the left hand. Schuyler identifies the serpent with ,the embodi- were censured by Pope InnocentVIII and their authorwas imprisoned ment of temptation,the "left-side,"wicked companion of Adam, con- at Vincennes. Afterhis release-due in large partto the interventionof trasted with Eve, whom the Churchsaw as a prefigurationof the Virgin Lorenzode' Medici-Pico continued to publish works which enjoyed Mary. great popularityamong Florentinehumanists, but it is unlikelythat the 8 Forsuch a diagram,see the title page of AndreaRiccio's occult Vaticanwould have forgotten about the charges of heresy previously book Portae lucis, Amsterdam, 1560. broughtagainst him. Despitethe then very liberalattitude of the Church 9 Inthe Bookof Zoharwe readthat the Shekhinais often rendered authoritiestowards various manifestationsof religioussyncretism, the as the personificationof sin, judgment,and expulsion,and that her face Cabala Jewish gnosis came in for repeated criticism and was even is then dark;see G. Scholem, ZurKabbala und ihrer Symbolik,Zurich, condemned by lay scholars as well. An ample literature adversos 1960, p. 143. She is also sometimes identifiedwith the Treeof Deathand Judaeos developed; see S. Swieawski, Dzieje filozofiieuropejskiej XV withdemonic powers. Scholem,Von dermystischen Gestalt der Gottheit, wieku, IV,Warsaw, 1979, pp. 140-43. 16 ch. IV,pp. 135-87, says the concept of the Shekhinacannot be traced See Tolnay,Michelangelo, I, 6, 8. directly back to the Bible but only to the Apocrypha.It occurs in the 17 lbidem, I, 249, Appendix. Michelangelowrote the letter in Flo- Talmudand in rabbinicalwritings, which treatit as the personificationof rence to GiovanfrancescoFattuci in Rome. the lightcreated by the Lord,without always definingits female charac- 18 J. Klaczko,Jules II, Rome et la Renaissance (Paris,1898), ad- ter. It is only in the mystical doctrines of the Cabalaformulated in the vanced the theory that she is "Sapientia,identified by the Churchwith early thirteenthcentury that the Shekhinabecomes the ninth sephira: Mary,to whom the Sistine Chapel was dedicated" (p. 355). This was "als einer unter mytischer Fixation erscheinenden Hypostase der rejected, however, by W. Thode, Michelangelo, Kritische Unter- ImmanenzGottes in der Welt....Ihre weiblicher Charakter hatte schon suchungen iber seine WerkeI (Berlin,1908). Since then, no one has starkpassive und rezeptiveZige." She is presented in this way in the pursued the idea and it was quite forgotten, having been superceded Book of Zoharand the Book of Bahir.Her dark,demonic features are by the view of the figure as "the Platonicidea of Eve." given particularemphasis in the Zohar,where she also appears most 19 See O'Malley,"II mistero dellavolta," pp. 92-148; and also Hartt, frequently,usually as the "eternalfeminine" in the sexual meaning, as Michelangelo, p. 31, who also emphasizes the possibilitythat Cardinal

186 THEDIVINE WISDOM OF MICHELANGELO

Vigerio, a Franciscanlike Julius IIand particularlyclose to him, may sostiene che I'animae creata sul momento della concezione. La linea have played an advisory role. However,Hartt writes, "Thetheological del petto non suggerisce il modo caratteristico di Michelangelo di expert is forgotten in the dazzlinglight of the artist's imagination." rendere il petto femminile, ed e perfettamente coerente con quello 20 O'Malleyregards the female figure simply as an angel (p. 142): degli ignudi; i ricciolidei capelli inoltresono pii corti di quelli di molti "La bellissima figura di adolescente, su cui resta un lieve sospetto nudi."One can hardlyagree with these claims. Michelangelo painted d'androgynia,si distingue dagli altriputti per una vibrantevitalith...." and sculpted the female breast in various ways; a comparison of the F Hartt,"La creazione dell'uomo," in Capella Sistina. La storia della Sibyls from the Sistine ceiling with the female figures on the tomb of Creazione,Tokyo, 1989, p. 254, also considers the figure male: "Spesso the Medici is sufficient. As for the hair,the style worn by the figure e in modo incomprendibile caratterizato come femina e come here-a cluster of long curls bound on top of the head-is typically rappresentazione della non ancora nata, incarnata anima di Eva, o feminine and is never found on a man in any paintingor sculpture by perfino della Vergine Maria,contrariamente alla teologia cattolica che Michelangelo.

187