[Michael Angelo Buonarroti by Charles Holroyd]@TWC D-Link book
Michael Angelo Buonarroti

CHAPTER IX
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Another is just below, two figures near the right arm of the Judge.
One of the finest and most superb groups ever designed by Michael Angelo is the group of angels blowing the trumpets of doom in the forefront of the fresco.

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.


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