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“Michelangelo and The Tomb Tragedy”
Presented by Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

When Michelangelo was called to Rome in 1506 by the recently elected Pope Julius II, it was to design and carve the mother of all tombs. Intended to stand four stories in height and directly over the tomb of St. Peter, and to accommodate 40 over-life-sized statues, it was a direct reflection of both the pope’s megalomaniacal tendencies and the artist’s over-reaching ambition. Shortly after ordering 100 tons of Carrara marble with which to begin the project, Pope Julius put the commission on hold so that Michelangelo could instead cover the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in fresco. The Sistine ceiling was the first of a series of interruptions to a project whose contract would be reworked three more times over nearly four decades of legal battles between the rock-star artist and the exacerbated heirs of Pope Julius II. This lecture will explore the history of this epic contractual contest that resulted in what Michelangelo’s earliest biographer described as “the tragedy of the tomb.”

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Lecture TopicPlease choose a lecture topicA Renaissance ChristmasA Renaissance EasterBotticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and the AntiqueBrunelleschi and the Building of the DomeCaravaggio – “The Cursed Painter”Florence and Siena: A Tale of Two CitiesGiotto – The Movie! – Cinematic aspects of the frescoes in the Scrovegni ChapelIl Gigante: Michelangelo and the Statue of DavidLeonardo, the Last Supper and the Art of Throwing a Great Dinner PartyMasterpieces of the Uffizi GalleryMedici: The Art of PowerMichelangelo and the Sistine Chapel CeilingMichelangelo and the Tomb TragedyMichelangelo: The First Modern ArtistMona Lisa’s Smile: Representation of Emotion in Italian Renaissance and Baroque ArtRenaissance Florence: The Art of MagnificenceRenaissance Pleasure PalacesRenaissancing RenoirReverence and Rivalry: Religious Art and Architecture in Siena, “the City of the Virgin”Roma: Caput MundiSaints, Symbols and SpaghettiThe Chapels that Defined the Renaissance: the Scrovegni, Brancacci and Sistine ChapelsThe Divine Michelangelo: His Life and His WorksThe Greatness of TuscanyThe Little Giant: How St. Francis of Assisi Changed the WorldThe Most Serene Republic: The Splendors of VeniceThe Renaissance in Northern ItalyTyranny and Justice: Civic Art and Architecture in Siena

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