Benjamin Blech

“What this lone artist wanted to do was construct a giant bridge of the spirit, spanning different faiths, cultures, eras, and sexualities.”

— Benjamin Blech

“Whoever’s idea it was, the new Palatine Chapel was designed to replace the ancient Jewish Temple as the New Holy Temple of…

— Benjamin Blech

“Let’s start with Michelangelo’s predecessors. What did they want the chapel to say, and what relevance, if any, do these ideas still…

— Benjamin Blech

“In The Last Judgment, just as Mary is turning away from the severe judgment of Jesus, there is a deeper meaning: Michelangelo…

— Benjamin Blech

“There is so much information and decoration that this, the world’s largest fresco painting at about twelve thousand square feet, seems overstuffed…

— Benjamin Blech

“He infused his ceiling fresco with Kabbalistic images that reflected the Kabbalistic pavement design below. He linked the Jewish ancestral tree to…

— Benjamin Blech

“How to maintain the proper mood and not bore the congregation to sleep? Art was the answer. But not just pretty pictures…

— Benjamin Blech

“It captures the essence of a mystical Jewish concept: the struggle of the animalistic, amoral soul against the human, spiritual soul. In…

— Benjamin Blech

“In fact, the Latin root of the word literacy is the same as for the word intellect: leggere, “to read.” The source…

— Benjamin Blech

“Their love, however, was the epitome of what we today would label “platonic.” They loved each other’s minds. Michelangelo was thrilled to…

— Benjamin Blech

“The original ceiling illustrated a simple theme shared by many synagogues: a night sky, filled with golden stars. This scene is reminiscent…

— Benjamin Blech

“The Vatican preached that because the Jews had killed Jesus and rejected his teachings they were punished with the loss of their…

— Benjamin Blech

“Very often, the title given to an artwork is the key to unlocking its hidden meanings. For example, for centuries no one…

— Benjamin Blech

“Faced with the enormous insult of his burial in Rome, the citizens of Florence finally realized their cultural and spiritual debt to…

— Benjamin Blech

“Here is a fundamental distinction between Judaism and Christianity. The Gospels record the miracles performed by Jesus at length, and miracles play…

— Benjamin Blech

“Art—at least great art—by its very nature has varying levels, or layers, of meaning. In fact, a masterpiece comes to be considered…

— Benjamin Blech

“Still, the rebellious artist had placed a minor Jewish prophet in the important spot where the pope had wanted Jesus. How did…

— Benjamin Blech

“In most Christian imagery of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the suffering, damned Jews were portrayed as unsympathetic caricatures. This was an…

— Benjamin Blech

“the man who knew that his people were in the "fire of Egypt," which would some day be paralleled by the crematoria…

— Benjamin Blech

“Leonardo was renowned as a painter, and Michelangelo (thanks to his Battle of the Centaurs and the David) was known for portraying…

— Benjamin Blech

“In early 1506 a peasant had been fixing up his vineyard near the Colosseum when he accidentally opened up a hole in…

— Benjamin Blech

“The ambitious pope had already discussed the Sistine ceiling with Michelangelo in 1506, probably while they were together in Bologna. No doubt…

— Benjamin Blech

“In his last years, Michelangelo worked on new pietà sculptures—not for any pope, but for his own diversion and probably for his…

— Benjamin Blech

“Michelangelo then summarily fired his Roman staff of assistants. He next sent for five longtime friends, all artists with experience in fresco…

— Benjamin Blech

“Thus, Michelangelo filled the chapel with hidden messages of his passionate loves and his righteous rages, along with mystic symbols of divine…

— Benjamin Blech

“What, then, is the unifying theme, if any, of these four different corner panels that might account for their selection by Michelangelo?…

— Benjamin Blech

“Michelangelo proposed to the pope that he make a large copy of the Pantheon dome on top of the new St. Peter’s.…

— Benjamin Blech

“Evil can be destroyed in either direction. Some are meant to be cast down. Others rise, but their elevation is meant to…

— Benjamin Blech

“Vatican theologians turned the Sistine into “The New Holy Temple of the New Jerusalem.” Its role, they explained, was to replace with…

— Benjamin Blech

“Still, Rome was horrified by all this. The Vatican had “Christianized” the teachings of Aristotle, and not Plato. It preached that redemption…

— Benjamin Blech

“Michelangelo knew that for the Church to fulfill the will of God, it had to become a paradigm of true brotherhood. There…

— Benjamin Blech

“Our first clue, included in each of the Sistine portraits of the sibyls and prophets—save one—is a scroll or a book, symbolizing…

— Benjamin Blech

“Buonarroti was later given the job of designing the huge dome of the new Basilica of St. Peter. It is well known…

— Benjamin Blech

“If an artist of the caliber of Leonardo or Michelangelo was paid a hefty commission for a new private piece of art,…

— Benjamin Blech

“expensive paint jobs in history. Michelangelo began at the top of the wall and slowly worked his way down for more than…

— Benjamin Blech

“He hauled in Michelangelo, commanding the aged maestro to make the naked figures in The Last Judgment “suitable” for the papal chapel.…

— Benjamin Blech

“Michelangelo was entranced by this ancient masterpiece, the result of three top Greek sculptors working as a team on the island of…

— Benjamin Blech

“thought. Successionism means that one faith can replace a previous one that has ceased to function. In religious terms, it is comparable…

— Benjamin Blech

“SUCCESS, IT HAS OFTEN BEEN SAID, means different things to different people. Measured by the throngs of visitors who are moved to…

— Benjamin Blech

“Kabbalah (in Hebrew, literally “receiving”) refers to the mystical traditions that encompass the secrets of the Torah, the esoteric truths that reveal…

— Benjamin Blech