All the human figures and
most of the angels appear to be dominated by an idea of impending doom,
but they nobly act their part in a fateful present, although they know
that the future cannot be changed by any effort of theirs, however noble
it may be. They are all fatalists, but all noble in their pessimism; they
reflect the mind of the artist. The individual motives of the figures,
their grouping and their action, are frequently taken from earlier art,
especially sculpture, and they show how carefully and reverently Michael
Angelo studied the works of his predecessors, Massaccio, Lorenzo Ghiberti,
Donatello, and Jacopo della Quercia.
[Image #27]
THE LIBYAN SIBYL
SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME
(_Reproduced by permission from a Photograph by Sig. Anderson, Rome_)
[Image #28]
THE PROPHET JEREMIAH
SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME
(_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_)
The first division above the High Altar represents the creation of light.
God separates light from darkness, and brings order out of chaos. In the
second division, one of the larger pictures, God creates the sun and moon;
He passes on and spreads His hand in blessing over a segment of the earth
where the trees and herbs spring forth. In the third, God gathers together
in one place the waters which were under the firmament.
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