I went to see the Sistine Chapel, which I hadn't seen since before the restoration. The difference is huge. I was slack-jawed before the Last Judgment. My eye soon went to the area that appeals to me most on an emotional level: the upper right-hand corner.

Directly below he back of the angel wrapped around the bottom of the column, there is a highlight on two male figures clasped in each other's arms. Ostensibly it is a depiction of one of the blessed welcoming a newcomer. I see more than that, as have others, and want passionately to believe it is Michelangelo's gay manifesto, or as much of one as he could allow himself with sharp-eyed religious authorities looking over his shoulder. Seeing it in its beautiful condition moved me deeply.

http://www.christusrex.org/www1/sistine/40j-F.jpg

There is also a case to be made about how gay, not to say awfully carnal for a religious work, the big nudes (ignudi) on the ceiling are. I think he got away with them because details aren't visible from the floor level. My favorite:

http://www.abcgallery.com/M/michelangelo/michelangelo37.html

He go away with what he got away with because of the fact that the two Popes who commissioned him to do the two frescos, Julius II and Paul III, were humanists, greatly admired his work and would brook no criticism of it. Both of these Popes, by the way, were totally straight and had children. As to whether or not Michelangelo was gay -- that is pure speculation and, at this point in time, cannot be proved one way or the other.

And, later popes were not so humanistic. Much of the recent repair to the chapel included removing fig leaves. Oooooh, the desecration!

Jim

He go away with what he got away with because of the fact that the two Popes who commissioned him to do the two frescos, Julius II and Paul III, were humanists, greatly admired his work and would brook no criticism of it. Both of these Popes, by the way, were totally straight and had children. As to whether or not Michelangelo was gay -- that is pure speculation and, at this point in time, cannot be proved one way or the other.

"Cannot be proved" does nothing to foreclose the possibility of Michelangelo's homosexuality.

I don't know what your standard of proof is. It's true he was intensely private and kept his erotic tastes to himself. But to call his homosexuality"pure speculation" is to overlook the unmistakably homoerotic elements in his art. It is also to ignore a major portion of his poetic output, which swings from the anguish he experiences over the conflict between his highly developed sense of sin and his carnality, to pretty unequivocal references to the love he bore some of the young men in his circle, and more veiled references to sexual relations.

P.S. I'll concede the humanistic credentials of his Popes, but my point isn't ill taken. I'm sure even they would have had problems with those ignudi if they'd had them in plain sight while saying Mass in their private chapel instead of tucked away on the ceiling.

This is slightly off topic, but I noticed that ABC's 20/20 is doing a special this Friday (02 May) on the Sistine Chapel. According to the local news, "Following recent restoration of Michelangelo's artwork on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, some think the artist may have hidden messages in some of the figures."

Wonder if they'll explore the "real" hidden message??