Prophet Isaiah (Michelangelo)

The Prophet Isaiah

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 Isaiah 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. Elements of this fresco have inspired various artists, including Caravaggio and Norman Rockwell in his famous Rosie the Riveter illustration.^[1]

This particular fresco figure is painted fourth on the right from the side of the High Altar. Michelangelo's imagining bursts with movement, as Isaiah's cloak swirls around him. The colors in the portrayal – especially after the restoration – strike us as cool and luminous. The figure holds a distinctive blue book to his side, perhaps a depiction of the biblical Book of Isaiah.

This painting has been held in particularly high regard by critics. Vasari said of it: "Anyone who studies this figure, copied so faithfully from nature, the true mother of the art of painting, will find a beautifully composed work capable of teaching in full measure all the precepts to be followed by a good painter".^[2] If compared to Raphael's imagining of the same figure, Michelangelo's portrayal seems far more fluid and less muscular, as well as brighter in color.

A close-up of the background figure in the Isaiah fresco

See also

• Sistine Chapel ceiling
• Prophet Jeremiah

References

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 7 Luca 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) Scenes from Genesis The Separation of Light from Darkness The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Vegetation 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