Their energy and power, compared with the placid angels of
Pisa and Orvieto, exhibit the different aims of the artist most
effectively. It must be noticed how carefully Michael Angelo has arranged
his composition, so that the baldacchino used behind the High Altar upon
great occasions shall not injure his composition. The group of angel
trumpeters, the Charon and the devils in a cave, are all hidden and cut
off exactly by the curtains, and the composition generally is positively
improved by their absence. Michael Angelo, no doubt, thought the fresco
would be most seen on such occasions, and designed his work accordingly.
The space hidden, however, he did not neglect, but placed in it some of
his finest work.
The prophet above this end of the chapel is Jonah, whose history is a
symbol of the resurrection of the dead. His presence there makes us
suppose that Michael Angelo always contemplated the possibility of his
having to paint the Last Judgment upon this wall, although he himself
painted the lunettes now covered by the larger composition. The colour of
this fresco is very much darkened by dust and by smoke from the altar
candles; and, as it is more within reach than the vault, it has been
retouched. It should be a source of comfort to those who get tired with
looking upward at pictures in high places, if they will but remember that
their beloved paintings have often been protected from the restorer by
their high position. There is an interesting early copy of this fresco in
the Corsini Gallery in Florence, which, though rather crude, gives us a
good idea of the light tone of the painting in its early state.
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