The Last Judgement – Angels taking the blessed souls into heaven
Year mention: 1564
Subject:
Angels taking the blessed souls into heaven ; Last Judgement
Conflict:
Capriccio
Judging art
Untruthfulness/Not probable/Not corresponding to history
Criticism:

Angels take blessed souls to heaven with cords, rosaries or by their arms; Michelangelo decided to paint in favour of the “satisfaction of art” rather than “historical truth”

Agent:
Gilio, Giovanni Andrea
Niccolò della Casa, After Michelangelo Buonarroti, set of prints of the Last Judgement, 1548
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, www.metmuseum.org

In this section of the dialogue, the participants come to talk about the already criticised depiction of the resurrected blessed souls being pulled towards heaven by the angels.
M. Ruggiero criticises the way the angels perform this act. The depiction with ropes, rosaries or even by force is a personal invention of Michelangelo. This, he says, almost represents a contempt for religion.

“M. Ruggiero replied: ‘[…] The other personal invention [capriccio] I notice is that the angels perform those actions of hauling up the blessed, some with cords [cordoni], others with rosaries, and some by the arms, as you can see here, as if entry to heaven required violence. This was perhaps to show the demons hold the blessed back and do not let them reach the desired end of beatitude, or rather, weighted down by the body as they were in the world, they need help from those who pull them up by force. To what extend all this is fable, I will not waste any effort in telling you’.
M. Pulidoro replied: ‘I would not criticize Michelangelo for this. His having shown those actions for bringing up the blessed was meant to indicate the different ways in which we can be saved: the rosary means that prayer has been the reason for the person’s salvation, for others it has been piety [religione], and so on for others. So I approve and praise (what he has done)’.
M. Ruggiero replied: ‘All those who are saved will achieve their salvation by these means, because without prayer and other good works it is impossible for anyone to be saved, so it was not necessary to introduce them in order to show those consequences. For that reason I do not praise him […]’.
[…] M. Ruggiero said: ‘[…] Because if we try to think correctly about the fact of those rosaries and cords [funi] that I mentioned a little earlier, we will discover that it reveals a certain contempt for religion, rather than reverence, for these things are not the main cause of our salvation, the Lord is. Therefore they should not be invested with what is appropriate to them; they provoke laughter rather than penitence, and instead of dignifying prayers and pious practices, they bring them into contempt. Therefore, I do not approve of them’.”

“Rispose M. Ruggiero: ‘[…] L’altro capriccio che io noto è che gli angeli fac cino quei gesti di tirare i beati, altri con cordoni, altri con corone, altri per le braccia, come qui vi vedete; come che d’uopo fusse la violenza per ire al cielo, dimostrando per avventura che i demonii gli impediscano per non lasciarli consequire il desiderato fine de la beatitudine, o vero, ritardati da la gravezza del corpo, come già nel mondo furono, abbino auto bisogno di chi gli
tiri a forza: il che quanto sia favoloso non durerò fatica altramente a dechiararvilo’.
Rispose M. Pulidoro: ‘In questo io non tassarei Michelagnolo, perché l’aver mostrato quei gesti del tirare i beati in quel modo penso che altro denotar non voglia, se non la diversità de’ mezzi per i quali uno s’è salvato: la corona denota l’orazioni esser state cagione de la colui salute, d’altri la religione, e così degli altri. Però mi piace e lo lodo’.
Rispose M. Ruggiero: ‘Tutti coloro che si salveranno, per questi mezzi consequiranno la salute, perché senza l’orazione e l’altre buone opere è impossibile che uno si salvi, e non era cosa necessaria a demostrare quegli effetti. Però io non gli lodo […]’.
[…] Disse M. Ruggiero: ‘[…] Però non si dee attribuirgli quello che non gli si conviene, essendo cosa più tosto da far ridere che compungere, e più tosto recano a l’orazioni et a le religioni disprezzo che grandezza. Però a me non piace. Un altro capriccio noto ancora in questa istoria, il quale è d’aver confusamente in aria mescolati i beati et i dannati a la destra e sinistra mano; il che è contra il testo de l’Evangelio’.”

Keywords
| religione, Angels, Ascension of the souls, capriccio | cordoni, Last Judgement, Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel: Vatican, Souls

Terminology
capriccio, cordoni, funi, religione
Artist
Buonarroti, Michelangelo
Beatrizet, Nicolas
Bonasone, Giulio
Ghisi, Giorgio

Date mention
1564

Date artwork
1535-1541
Historical Location

Vatican City, Vatican Palace


Current Location
Vatican City, Vatican Palace
Iconclass Number
11U(+3); 11U23;

Source
Gilio, Dialogue on the errors and abuses of painters (2018), 174-176; Gilio, Dialogo. Nel quale si ragiona degli errori e degli abusi de’pittori circa l’istorie. In: Due dialogi di M. Giouanni Andrea Gilio da Fabriano (1564), 69-71
Literature

Gilio 2018, 174-175, n.258, fig.19-22

Permanent Link
https://www.sacrima.eu/case/the-last-judgement-angels-taking-the-blessed-souls-into-heaven/