Chapitre d’ouvrage
A paraître
Florian Métral. « A Sensory World: The Experience of Creation in the Sistine Chapel before Michelangelo ». Peter Howard. Before Michelangelo: ‘Revisioning’ Sixtus’s Sistine Chapel as Sensorium, Turnhout, Brepols, In press. ⟨hal-04822247⟩
This article investigates the experience of Creation in the Sistine Chapel prior to Michelangelo’s intervention, focusing on the Quattrocento decoration commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV. While Michelangelo’s Genesis frescoes have dominated art historical discourse, this study asserts that the theology of Creation was already central in the earlier program, notably through the now-lost starry sky ceiling attributed to Piermatteo d’Amelia. The analysis engages with specific manuscripts and images commissioned for Sixtus IV, which provide valuable insights into the theological and artistic choices of the period. The study also highlights the importance of sensory experience, grounded in Franciscan theology, in shaping the Chapel’s iconography, with a particular focus on the dialectic between the visible and invisible. This framework of ‘sensorium’ reflects how the sensory perception of the created world serves as a pathway to the divine, offering a new lens for understanding the chapel as a microcosm.