A huge curtain covered the wall of The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. There were only a few hours left for Pope John Paul II to discover, on April 8, 1994, a spectacular restoration. The team of Vatican experts, headed by Gianluigi Colalucci, had freed the work from soot and other substances that made it almost unrecognizable. Thirty years have passed since the resurrection of the fresco, like that of the righteous that it portrays ascending, at the same time as the condemned fall into hell.
But the explosion of color wasn’t the only thing that was exposed with the cleaning. Also some genitals that the Congregation of the Council of Trent ordered to cover for decorum. Only about 15 of the 40 painted by Michelangelo could be recovered. Most were scraped off before being hidden behind some rags. Just in case… The audacity of the artist, who considered that “souls have no tailor”, was already criticized by his contemporaries, he was even about to end up before the Holy Office accused of heresy
One of the fiercest voices was that of the Pope’s master of ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena. As revenge, Michelangelo portrayed him in hell, with donkey ears and a snake biting his testicles. It is said that the cardinal went to Clement VII, who amused himself by replying: “If the painter had put you in purgatory, he would have done everything possible to get you out of there; but I don’t get to hell”.
In reality, this Pope executed, with the commission from Michelangelo, his own vendetta, perhaps not as well known as that of the artist. Previously, on the wall of the high altar of the Chapel, there was a representation of an Assumption by Perugino, in which Sixtus IV appeared before the Virgin. And things in life, this Pope took part in the conspiracy against Lorenzo de’ Medici, who was saved by a miracle, and his brother Giuliano, who died leaving an orphan who would eventually become Clement VII. It is clear that the Pope could not see his predecessor even in painting. Miquel Àngel, reluctant to eliminate the work of a colleague, found it done. The Pope had it scratched before his arrival.
The one who did not have so many guild objections was El Greco, who not even ten years after the death of il Divino went to Rome ready to repaint the wall with a more decent work. Luckily, the tapanaps were enough. Peccata minuta
