Prophet Jeremiah (Michelangelo)

The Prophet Jeremiah

Artist	Michelangelo
Year	circa 1508–1512
Type	Fresco
Dimensions	390 cm × 380 cm (150 in × 150 in)
Location	Sistine Chapel, Vatican Palace, Vatican City

The Prophet Jeremiah is one of the seven Old Testament prophets painted by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo (c. 1542–1545) on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The Sistine Chapel is in Vatican Palace, in the Vatican City.

This particular fresco is the first one on the left from the side of the High Altar. The person of Jeremiah is imagined as lost in anguished meditation. Although the painting portrays Jeremiah as lamenting over the Destruction of Jerusalem, critics have interpreted the figure as a self-portrait by Michelangelo, with the artist lamenting over the weight of his sins.

Influential English critic Roger Fry used the figure to illustrate his emotional elements of design, or how formal elements such as mass and space produce emotion:

When, for instance, we look at Michelangelo's "Jeremiah," and realise the irresistible momentum his movements would have, we experience powerful sentiments of reverence and awe.^[1]

Notes

References

• Fry, Roger. 1920. "Vision and Design." London: Chatto & Windus. "An Essay in Æsthetics." 11-24. Accessed online on 13 March 2012 at http://www.scribd.com/doc/52044301/Roger-Fry-Vision-and-design

See also

• Sistine Chapel ceiling

v t e Decoration of the Sistine Chapel Key: 1 Pietro Perugino · 2 Sandro Botticelli · 3 Cosimo Rosselli · 4 Domenico Ghirlandaio · 5 Biagio d'Antonio · 6 Piero di Cosimo · 7Luca Signorelli · 8 Bartolomeo della Gatta · 9 Michelangelo · 10 Raphael Life of Moses Moses Leaving to Egypt 1 The Trials of Moses 2 The Crossing of the Red Sea 3/4/5 The Descent from Mount Sinai 3/6 The Punishment of the Rebels 2 The Testament and Death of Moses 7/8 Life of Christ The Baptism of Christ 1 The Temptations of Christ 2 The Vocation of the Apostles 4 The Sermon on the Mount 3 The Delivery of the Keys 1 The Last Supper 3 Ceiling 9 (Gallery) The Separation of Light from Darkness The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Planets The Separation of Land and Water The Creation of Adam The Creation of Eve The Fall of Man and the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden The Sacrifice of Noah The Flood The Drunkenness of Noah Prophets Jonah Jeremiah Ezekiel Joel Zechariah Isaiah Daniel Sibyls Persian Sibyl Erythraean Sibyl Delphic Sibyl Cumaean Sibyl Libyan Sibyl Altar wall The Last Judgment 9 Tapestries The Lives of Saints Peter and Paul 10 Pope Sixtus IV Art patronage of Julius II Restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescoes