The Popes made a store house of the Vatican which is in Rome by the collecting of precious metals, documents, and art work which is now called, The Vatican Collections. Pope John Paul 2nd said this of the collections. They will speak of the human condition as well as the endevorance of the human spirit. The Vatican contains many Art pieces of the Roman err such as statues of men and women as well as horses and many other pieces of art work.. Nicolas the 5th was the first true renaissance Pope and had two great passions, one of books, the other of building.
The painters of the enaissance could expect a lot of help from this Pope. At one time he commissioned a painter whos name was called Frangelico The son of a country Doctor, short and not in good health, said to have been caused by to much study. Frangelico was commissioned by Nicolas the 5th to decorate his private chapel. Great artiste of the time could also expect help from a man called Pope Sixtus the 4th who was know as a born ruler. It was he who sponsored the Sistine Chapel where Popes have been elected every sense. It was built to perfect proportion and decorated with work of the finest painters that Pope
Sixtus the 4thcould command. The painters brought to life the story of Christand the early Church. Pope Sixtus the 4th was a man who believed in taking care of his own, and who could blame him for that? He had six nephews and he made three of them Cardinals. One of which payed off, for he became Julius the 2nd one of the greatest patreant of saints of all the Popes. The Popes of that time had a weakness for things of great beauty, and enjoyed it by beautifying the Church with Art. It began on a classical scale of sculpture, Jupiter and Zoose, father of the gods.
This rought back skills long forgotten that made statues seem as though they had once been alive, and frozen in second of time. Like the Amazons, a race of woman warriors from the Black Sea. Aireon, deserted on the island of Nacsaus but to become,The Bride of Bacus, the god of wine. Old Father Athena, who sprang fully armed from the head of Zoose,The Goddess of War, science and the Fine Arts. Pope Julius the 2nd himself was a renaissance man , and began one of what was to become the world greatest Art Collections. Some of which contained a statues of Apollo, The Sun God,
The Apollo Belvedere, A Great God of Light. Julus the 2nd is also the one who commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. What Michelangelo did was to show the relationship between man and God in the form of art. Between 1508 and 1602 he painted over 300 figures in 9 scenes from the Old Testament , and always he worked alone tracing the spiritual history of man kind. While Michelangelo was working on the Sistine Chapel, Raphael was at Julius the 2nd painting his residences. The were two themes used by Raphael were religion and philology.
In one painting Raphael included himself as well as Michelangelo as his rival artist, and good for us that he did. For had he not, we wouldnt or couldnt be for sure just what they looked like. Raphaels work did more than enhance the Vaticans rooms, it also eliminated the doctorian of the Church by which it survived. The last work of Raphael was the Transfiguration of Christ he was thirty seven years old at the time. There hasnt been much change in the Vaticans Garden sense Julus the 2nd who also loved building. It was he who laid the first stone to St Peters in 506, and it took one hundred years to build so he never saw it completed.
And while Michelangelo was worrying about his own destiny, being upward in years. He was commissioned by Pope Paul the 3rd to paint The last Judgementin 1527, and it took five years. Mercenaries sacked Rome and held Pope Clement for ransom and hard times fell upon the Church. This lead to the banishment of the Church treasures and returned it to the grass roots level, so to speak. After about one hundred years art took on a new form for realism had come of age. Then came Pope Urban the 8th and he commissioned John Larinso Berini who created a whole ifferent style.
Berini created everything in motion, grandeur and color. Tons of Marble and Brozon Berini worked with, and his final work was his Colonnade. He placed statues on top of it like as though they were forever guards, watching continually. The art work the Popes collected and the messages this work sent out expands the World over. The statues of which I have spoken of, some of which are exposed to the weather, are in danger of being lost due to pollution. Constant repairs are being made to most all this art work, and being done by some that might surprise you.
For the tapestries that arent exposed to weather are being repaired by Nuns with needle and thread. There are currently ten museums holding the art work owned by the Vatican at a value which can not be measured. To lose these pieces of Art would be a lose to the Entire World. In conclusion, all of this Art work does one very important thing in our lives to this very day. It keeps us in remembrance of God Almighty which is priceless. For what value is there in paint, or canvas? Very little for they are but the tools which we use to bring our hearts out into the open for all to see, and thats whats Priceless.
