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BELL TOLLS

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It says here that the Renaissance

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was a tremendously important
period in European culture

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that produced the beginnings
of modern thought.

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And this period, it says here,

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was marked by the revival
of the spirit of Greece and Rome,

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and by an increasing preoccupation
with secular life.

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And, I suppose, some of the time
that's what it was.

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In some bits of
the Italian Renaissance,

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the Greeks and the Romans
are definitely being remembered,

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and modern thought is,
perhaps, being invented.

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And it's certainly
getting more secular.

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But that's only in some bits.

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Over the years,
I've been all around Italy

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and I've seen an awful lot
of Renaissance art.

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And wonderful work,
no arguments there,

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but, you know, very few bits of it,

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very few indeed, are actually trying
to do what it says in the books.

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I mean, this is a forgotten
master of the Italian Renaissance,

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Niccolo dell'Arca.

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Have you heard of him? No.

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Why? Because he doesn't fit this.

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Yet this was made in around 1460,

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so in the pioneering, early days
of the Italian Renaissance.

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Yet, are the Greeks and the Romans
being revived here?

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Is modern thought being invented?

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Has this got secular ambitions?

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I don't think so.

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The fact is, a lot of
what we've been told

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about Italian Renaissance art

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is thoroughly misleading.

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It's just not what was going on.

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Most of the time Italian art
wasn't reviving the Greeks,

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it wasn't inventing modern thought.

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It was doing something
far more important than that.

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It was telling stories
to people who couldn't read,

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imagining the unimaginable,

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and getting in touch with
religious feelings

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that were deep and Catholic.

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I mean, come on.

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This is Italy.

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BELL TOLLS

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Ah, here it is.

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Zechariah 3:8.

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Ecce enim ego adducam
servum meum orientem.

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"Behold, I will bring forth
my servant, the Orient."

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HE SIGHS

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See that town up there on the hill?
That's Assisi.

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A town filled with Renaissance art.

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But also with
Renaissance complications.

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Because that's where
Francis of Assisi was born.

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Francis was the founder
of the Franciscan Order of monks,

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the Greyfriars, as they were
known in Robin Hood times.

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And in Italy he pops up
in more Renaissance art

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than anyone except Jesus Christ
and the Virgin Mary.

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Now, why would the founder
of an order of monks

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get this much attention?

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There it goes.
The sun coming up over Assisi.

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How beautiful is that?

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Now, if you ever find yourself
without a compass in Italy

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and you want to know
which way you're pointing,

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the thing to do is to find
the nearest Catholic church.

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Because they all point to the east,

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to the rising sun.

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Interestingly,
in the Tuscan dialect,

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Assisi, or Assesi,
actually means "rising up".

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Like the sun rising in the east.

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Or as we used to call it,
the Orient.

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So it's Zechariah again, 6:12.

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HE READS IN LATIN

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"Behold the man
whose name is Orient."

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"He shall build
the Temple of the Lord."

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Because Francis's story
keeps appearing

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in all this Renaissance art,

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we know it really well.

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We know that he was very rich,

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but then he saw the light

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and gave away all his possessions.

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We know that one day Francis was
coming down from Assisi

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when he came across a ruined chapel
here at San Damiano

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at the bottom of the hill.

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And he went in.

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Inside was a crucifix
and, miracle of miracles,

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it spoke to him.

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"Francis," said
the talking crucifix,

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"my house is crumbling."

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"Go and restore it."

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So that's what he did.

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Carrying the stones on his own back,

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Francis of Assisi rebuilt
the chapel here at San Damiano

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and fulfilled
the prophecy of Zechariah.

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"Hang on a minute, Waldemar,"

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you might be thinking.

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"You're sounding
like Dan Brown here."

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"What are you implying?"

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What I'm implying

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is that Francis of Assisi
was a messianic figure

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who thought he'd been instructed
to act by the Bible.

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Zechariah 6:12,

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"My servant the Orient will rebuild
the Temple of the Lord."

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Francis of Assisi
thought he was the Orient.

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BELL TOLLS

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His followers thought it too.

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Up on the balcony of the
Franciscan headquarters in Assisi,

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looking out across the world,

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they've put the words of
the great Tuscan poet Dante,

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which make the connection
with the Orient explicit.

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Francis wasn't just living a life,

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he was fulfilling
a huge biblical prophecy.

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You don't have to
take my word for it.

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Take the word of Renaissance art,

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and particularly
of the marvellous Giotto.

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This is the great Basilica
in Assisi,

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built in memory of St Francis
in the 13th century.

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And in around 1300,

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Giotto was commissioned
to paint Francis' story.

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Now, 1300 - that's early.

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And this is one of
the defining frescoes

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at the very beginning
of the Renaissance.

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It's all up there.

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There's Francis
giving away all his clothes

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and renouncing his inheritance.

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There he is talking to the animals

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in a famous miracle
of divine communication.

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And there he is
holding up the church,

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rebuilding it exactly
as Zechariah predicted.

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It's all here, laid out with
the clarity of a comic book,

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in this vivid explosion

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of imaginative
Renaissance storytelling.

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When people go on about
the pioneering art of Giotto,

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they talk about the new
solidity of his figures,

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the classical influences
at work on his anatomies,

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this new naturalism
of his landscapes.

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And all that is true,

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but it misses the point.

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What's really remarkable here -

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astonishing, amazing -

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is that Giotto has found a way

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to imagine the unimaginable.

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I mean, look at this stigmata scene.

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Christ as an angel

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sending lines of pain from heaven.

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Transferring his wounds to Francis.

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What a strange storyline that is.

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In the real world,
none of this could happen.

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Francis couldn't hoist
the church up on his back,

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or talk to the pigeons,

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or receive the wounds of Christ.

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In the real world, it can't happen.

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But in art, it can.

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That's what's
so telling and exciting

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about the art of the Renaissance.

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It's not about regaining
the civilisation of the Greeks

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or quoting the classical world.

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It's about making the impossible
feel vivid and real.

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And if you can do that,

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that's an enormous power.

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It's the power of Renaissance art.

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BELL TOLLS

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Now, I don't know how familiar you
are with the concept of purgatory.

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These are godless times,

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so the chances are you don't know
as much about it as people used to.

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Purgatory is somewhere
between earth and heaven.

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It's where you go if you haven't
been bad enough to go to hell

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but you haven't been good enough
to go to heaven either.

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Not straightaway at least.

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In purgatory your penance continues.

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And your soul gets scrubbed up

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until it's clean enough
to enter paradise.

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That's Dante, the great Tuscan poet,

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who's quoted so pointedly
on that balcony in Assisi

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with that line about the Orient.

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In this inventive fresco
by Domenico di Michelino,

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painted in 1465,

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the giant Dante looms over Florence.

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Surrounded by
the scary and painful future

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that all we sinners must face.

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On the left of him that's hell,

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with all those poor sinners
being stung by bees...

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..and burned by the eternal fires.

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Behind him, see that mountain?

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That's purgatory,

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where the world's lesser sinners
run off their sins,

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like naughty schoolboys
running round the football pitch.

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When I was at school
and I was naughty,

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which happened a lot I'm afraid,

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I was given lines to write.

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The same thing over and over again -

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"I will not flick ink
at my geography teacher,"

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that kind of thing.

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But in Renaissance Italy,

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if you wanted to atone for your sins

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and spend less time in purgatory,

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you had to pray for forgiveness.

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And the best person to pray to
was the Virgin Mary.

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Why are there so many beautiful
Madonnas in Renaissance art?

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Because so many Renaissance sinners

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had so much praying to do.

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These fascinating battles
to imagine the Virgin Mary

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and capture her perfection

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resulted in some of the
Renaissance's greatest pictures.

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When I say great, I mean GREAT.

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Look at the size of that.

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The enthroned Virgin Mary.

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Painted in the very early days
of the Renaissance,

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in around 1315, by Simone Martini.

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Now, that's what you call
an enthroned Madonna.

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I don't know about you,

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but when I look
at Renaissance pictures

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I need to know what I'm looking at.

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Otherwise even
the best Renaissance art

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can blur into an impenetrable
wall of religiosity.

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And that's particularly true
of all these Renaissance Madonnas.

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There's so many of them,

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and they can all feel the same.

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So in this film
I'm going to guide you

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through the main types of Madonna

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that you find in Renaissance art.

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So when you go into a museum,

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you'll know exactly
what you're looking at.

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This big one, the enthroned Madonna,

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sits above us, surrounded by saints.

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How do we know they're saints?

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Because they've all got halos.

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That is St Peter,
Jesus' trusty apostle.

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You can always spot him in art

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because he's always
carrying a big key...

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..the key to heaven.

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And there is St John the Baptist.

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He's always wearing an animal skin,

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because he lived in the wilderness.

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So, John the Baptist is here,
St Peter is here,

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the Virgin Mary is here.

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And where is the only place

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where they could all
be together like this?

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That's right, heaven.

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They're all in heaven.

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That Simone Martini has done here

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in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena

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is to imagine that this wall

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is an opening
in the side of the building...

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..that looks out onto heaven...

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..where the Madonna
and her saints have gathered

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so that we, over here
in the corporeal world...

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..can see her and worship her.

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The enthroned Madonna
is particularly popular.

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But there are many other
Renaissance Madonnas to pray to.

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And a man could go mad
deciding which to pick.

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So, to narrow them down,

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I've done what any sensible admirer
of Renaissance art should do.

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I'm focusing on the Madonnas
painted by Piero della Francesca.

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Between 1445 and 1474,

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along this stretch of road on the
borders between Tuscany and Umbria,

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right at the heart
of the Italian Renaissance,

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Piero painted a cluster of Madonnas

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00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,479
that can all be visited in a day.

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00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,079
And the one to start with
is up there,

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00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,720
in the little Tuscan
hill town of Monterchi.

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00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,319
It was painted for the town church

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00:19:29,320 --> 00:19:31,440
but an earthquake knocked it down.

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00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:35,040
So it's now got its own museum.

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00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,439
She's called the Madonna del Parto,

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00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:47,879
that's in Italian.

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00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:51,360
In English, she's
the Madonna of Parturition.

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00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,159
So if you know
what parturition means

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00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,240
you'll know why she's so special.

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00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:05,119
Parturition is childbirth.

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00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:09,679
So what this is
is an image of the Holy Madonna...

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00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,240
pregnant with baby Jesus.

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00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:18,879
It's very rare in art
to see Mary pregnant.

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00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:21,999
Not just in the Renaissance,
but any time.

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00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:27,199
It's as if pregnancy
is just too real, too biological,

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00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:30,759
to fit with the image
of the Virgin Mary.

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00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:35,320
But Piero pulls it off here
with such grace.

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00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:49,519
The next Piero Madonna is here,

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00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:55,439
in his hometown of Sansepolcro
in the town museum,

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00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:57,119
where you will find her

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00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:01,840
at the centre of
a complex religious arrangement.

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00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,119
It's a polyptych -

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00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:10,959
an altarpiece made of many parts.

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00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:17,799
Piero was originally commissioned
to paint it in 1445,

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00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:21,279
so that's right at
the start of his career.

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00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:25,399
But he dillied and he dallied

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00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:28,919
and he did all these
side panels first.

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00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,719
And the Madonna herself,

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00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:36,719
she was only finished in 1462

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00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:40,640
when, as you can see,
he was at his peak.

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00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:48,599
She is what they call
the Madonna Misericordia -

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00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:51,039
the Virgin of Mercy,

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00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:55,559
who is always shown
with her cloak outstretched,

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00:21:55,560 --> 00:22:00,920
offering mercy and protection
to those who shelter under it.

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00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,039
These giant Madonnas of Mercy

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00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:09,879
are a kind of stand-in
for the church itself -

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00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:14,719
a human building in which
the congregation can gather.

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00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:19,519
All these kneeling figures
at the front, these are the donors,

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00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:22,480
the people who actually
paid for the picture.

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00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:30,519
Because that's the other way
you earned time off from purgatory

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00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:32,879
in the Renaissance -

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00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:36,200
by commissioning
works of art for the church.

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00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:41,560
Why is there is so much
great Renaissance art?

301
00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:46,959
Because so many
great Renaissance sinners

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00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,280
were trying to get
into God's good books.

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00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,640
WHIPPING

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00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:12,879
This is the Ducal Palace in Urbino,

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00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:16,199
and that is Piero's Flagellation.

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00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,679
Such a mysterious little picture.

307
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:23,720
And, very unusually, he signed it
with the name of his hometown.

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00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:36,679
But this is what
we've come here to look at -

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00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:40,439
Piero's Madonna of Senigallia.

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00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:42,719
She's so tranquil,

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00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,839
so still, so lovely.

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00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,039
And as with all these Madonnas,

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00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:52,439
Piero is faced here with
the fiendishly difficult task

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00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:58,799
of painting a Madonna
who is both a mother and a virgin.

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00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:03,920
That is the big challenge facing
the Renaissance imagination.

316
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:09,199
So up on the shelf,

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00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:13,999
he has painted a basket
of crisp, white linen -

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00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,880
a deliberate echo
of the Madonna's purity.

319
00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:22,479
But this is Piero della Francesca,

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00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:24,840
the master of light.

321
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:29,239
So he doesn't just do it with linen,

322
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,360
he does it with sunbeams as well.

323
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:39,879
Look here - how the light coming
in so gently through the window

324
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,560
makes a beeline for Christ.

325
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:50,399
In the subtle symbolism
of this wonderful picture,

326
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:55,080
Jesus is the product
of a magic penetration...

327
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:58,800
..a penetration by light.

328
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,279
Now I think we're all agreed

329
00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,239
that Piero's Madonnas
are serenely beautiful,

330
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:11,359
but I think we can also all agree
that his baby Jesuses,

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00:25:11,360 --> 00:25:13,519
to put it charitably,

332
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,200
are a touch unconvincing.

333
00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:21,879
No, let's go further than that.

334
00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,159
They're pretty ugly.

335
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,039
And the same can be said

336
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:28,680
of a lot of Renaissance babies.

337
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:34,599
How can an era that
gets the Madonna so right...

338
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:38,840
get the baby Jesus so wrong?

339
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,319
Well, actually,
it doesn't get him wrong.

340
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,439
At least, not on its own terms,

341
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:47,559
because you have to remember

342
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:52,039
what they're trying to paint here
isn't just a baby,

343
00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:57,440
this is a God who's
come down to Earth as a man.

344
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,799
When the painted the baby Jesus,

345
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,319
the artists of the Renaissance

346
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:10,319
were trying to imagine a baby
who is also a God.

347
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:15,200
A newborn who has been there
since the beginning of time.

348
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,759
Two very different concepts

349
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:25,080
are trying to squeeze themselves
into one tiny body.

350
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:31,040
No wonder so many of them
are so ugly.

351
00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:43,559
Because Piero's Madonnas
are so noble and lovely,

352
00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:49,119
I worry that I may be painting
too sunny a picture for you here

353
00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:52,960
of the essential drives
of the Italian Renaissance.

354
00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:57,039
Yes, Italy, a land of mama's boys,

355
00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:00,479
was especially fond of Madonnas.

356
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:06,720
But it was also a land full
of sinners who needed purging.

357
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:16,119
This is the convent
of San Marco in Florence.

358
00:27:16,120 --> 00:27:17,879
And as you can see...

359
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:20,919
it's full of wonders.

360
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:24,719
It was taken over in 1435

361
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:29,280
by a religious order
called the Dominicans.

362
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:43,039
The Dominicans were founded
by St Dominic of Guzman

363
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,920
at the beginning
of the 13th century.

364
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:52,839
And the self-appointed task
of this fierce religious order

365
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:56,640
was to rid the church of heretics.

366
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,759
You can always spot
the Dominicans in art.

367
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:07,520
They're the ones wearing the
white robes with the black cowls.

368
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:15,040
And that's why they came
to be called the Black Friars.

369
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,079
The other nickname of the Dominicans

370
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,279
was the Hounds of the Lord.

371
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,039
It was based on a pun.

372
00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:32,839
Dominican sounds a little
like "Domini canes",

373
00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:36,319
which is Latin for "God's dogs".

374
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,079
This terrifying nickname,

375
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,399
the Hounds of the Lord,

376
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,440
seemed to suit their spirit.

377
00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:52,480
The Dominicans were notoriously
keen on flagellation.

378
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,080
They had a relationship to pain.

379
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:04,319
And when the Pope in Rome
set up the Inquisition in 1229

380
00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:07,879
to rid the church of its heretics,

381
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:11,800
the Dominicans were
entrusted to lead it.

382
00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:23,479
So the Dominicans where the
dogs of God, religiously fierce,

383
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:26,159
taking on the heretics,

384
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,239
but you wouldn't know it from
the art they made.

385
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,679
Not here, at least, in San Marco,

386
00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:36,679
where the entire convent
is filled with the paintings

387
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:42,399
of a Dominican genius they called
Fra Giovanni Angelico -

388
00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,400
the Angelic Brother John.

389
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:53,719
Fra Angelico was a friar
here at San Marco.

390
00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:56,599
And in each of
the cells in the convent,

391
00:29:56,600 --> 00:30:00,759
he painted the story of Christ,

392
00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:05,840
so the friars could
contemplate it 24/7.

393
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,799
There is nothing else like this
in the world.

394
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,599
As a feat of stamina,

395
00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:19,559
it's a mind-boggling achievement.

396
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,279
But it's also extraordinary

397
00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:26,760
because Fra Angelico
fully deserved his name.

398
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:36,960
He really was such
a sweet and gentle painter.

399
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:42,799
All the frantic flagellation
that went on here

400
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:47,440
seems so far away from the
delicate moods of Fra Angelico.

401
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,079
Here is his Annunciation -

402
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:54,919
the Angel Gabriel telling Mary

403
00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,520
she is going to
give birth to Jesus.

404
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,199
And here's another Annunciation,

405
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:05,039
also in San Marco.

406
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:09,480
A painting of such
sparse and simple beauty.

407
00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:17,479
Apparently he would always pray
before he began a painting,

408
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:19,559
and once he started a picture

409
00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:22,719
he would never retouch it
or change it

410
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:27,279
because he believed that
his art was divinely inspired.

411
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,399
And if the word of God
flows through you,

412
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,160
you're not allowed to alter it.

413
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:43,399
The sweetness of Fra Angelico drifts
through the monastery of San Marco

414
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,680
like a beautiful scent.

415
00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:53,959
But at the end of the corridor,
darkness lurks.

416
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:57,999
This is the cell
occupied by a Dominican

417
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,239
whose name still strikes terror

418
00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:05,279
in the hearts of us unworthy types -

419
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:07,120
Savonarola.

420
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:12,399
It isn't time yet to deal with him,

421
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:17,840
but I need to warn you,
he's coming up.

422
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:27,519
See that snow on
the top of that mountain?

423
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,040
That's not snow at all.

424
00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:34,600
It's gleaming white marble.

425
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,439
Which means I'm in Carrara,

426
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:43,599
whose famous quarries
supplied the stone

427
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:47,000
for one of the giants
of the Renaissance.

428
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:53,239
So far in this series,
we've talked mostly about paintings.

429
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:58,519
But, of course, it was also
a tremendous era for sculpture.

430
00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:01,759
When you talk about sculpture
in the Renaissance,

431
00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:04,359
you come here to Carrara

432
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:07,760
and you talk about Michelangelo.

433
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,799
Michelangelo's battles with
the white marble of Carrara

434
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:20,400
have come to define
Renaissance sculpture.

435
00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:24,679
And the way he carved that marble

436
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:29,640
has come to be seen as
the Renaissance way of carving.

437
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:33,439
You know the stories,

438
00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:36,159
they've gone down
in the folklore of art -

439
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:40,239
how Michelangelo saw
the figures hidden inside

440
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:43,199
the huge blocks of Carrara marble,

441
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:47,920
how he struggled with the stone
to set them free.

442
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,999
But it wasn't just
the stones of Carrara

443
00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:56,319
that Michelangelo was taking on

444
00:33:56,320 --> 00:34:00,959
in these famous
sculptural struggles of his.

445
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:04,080
He was also taking on the past.

446
00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:08,679
Buried beneath Renaissance Italy

447
00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:12,999
was the ancient world
of the Romans and the Greeks,

448
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,479
which was now being dug up again,

449
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:22,840
inspiring the Renaissance
to compete with it and match it.

450
00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:30,319
The trouble is, all these
wonderful ancient marbles

451
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:34,119
that were being dug out of
the ground in Renaissance times,

452
00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:40,439
inspiring Michelangelo and co,
were fundamentally misleading.

453
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:44,559
When they came out of the ground
they were pure and white,

454
00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:47,520
but that wasn't how
they went into the ground.

455
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:56,159
We now know that the sculptures
of the ancients were never white.

456
00:34:56,160 --> 00:35:00,080
They were always
highly coloured and gaudy.

457
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:06,119
But paint doesn't last
as long as stone,

458
00:35:06,120 --> 00:35:10,799
so when these ancient sculptures
were dug up again...

459
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:13,039
they came out white

460
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:17,280
and misled an entire civilisation.

461
00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:25,599
Poor old Michelangelo.

462
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:29,239
There he was, competing
with a mythic white past

463
00:35:29,240 --> 00:35:31,399
that never actually existed.

464
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:35,119
But in this film, we're not
going to make the same mistake,

465
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:36,879
because what we're going to do

466
00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:40,519
is to follow another
Renaissance storyline -

467
00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:42,799
not the myth but the truth.

468
00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:46,119
So the first thing we need to do

469
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:50,240
is to find out who broke
Michelangelo's nose.

470
00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:58,480
The Brancacci Chapel in Florence.

471
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:01,479
A Renaissance hotspot

472
00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:04,800
that's on every art-lover's
bucket list.

473
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:13,919
Two things of note happened in here.

474
00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:18,719
The first was that in around 1425

475
00:36:18,720 --> 00:36:22,799
Masaccio painted
these famous frescoes,

476
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:27,840
telling the story of how we
were expelled from Paradise and why.

477
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,519
But there's another reason
to come here -

478
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:35,559
because it was in here,
in the Brancacci Chapel,

479
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:39,439
that Michelangelo's nose was broken

480
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:43,920
by a rival sculptor
called Pietro Torrigiano.

481
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:53,279
Michelangelo had been taking
the mickey out of Torrigiano,

482
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:57,640
and Torrigiano snapped
and punched him in the nose.

483
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:02,959
"I felt bone and cartilage
go down like biscuit,"

484
00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:04,760
he later remembered.

485
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:10,919
So this Torrigiano was obviously
violent and arrogant,

486
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:13,919
but he was also highly gifted.

487
00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:17,279
And while Michelangelo,
with his broken nose,

488
00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:20,799
went on to dominate
Renaissance sculpture,

489
00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:24,439
Torrigiano had to
flee from Florence

490
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:28,920
and he found himself written out
of the story of the Renaissance.

491
00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:36,039
He spent the rest of his career
floating around Europe,

492
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:39,759
making weirdly vivid sculpture

493
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:42,480
that's been largely forgotten.

494
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:49,559
This is also by him.

495
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:52,919
It's actually Henry VII,
King of England,

496
00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:57,399
because, amazingly,
Torrigiano came to London too,

497
00:37:57,400 --> 00:38:00,120
where he worked for the Tudor Court.

498
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:08,199
But England didn't
work out for him either,

499
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:10,399
and he ended up in Spain,

500
00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:14,479
where he died in prison,
destitute and forgotten.

501
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:17,039
But look what he left behind -

502
00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:21,559
a thoroughly different
sculptural tradition.

503
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:27,079
Just as Renaissance as the gleaming
white marbles of Michelangelo,

504
00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:31,160
but thrillingly realistic and alive.

505
00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:38,679
Just look at
the details of the anatomy.

506
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:42,279
This wonderfully stringy
and wiry body

507
00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:45,199
of the old St Jerome

508
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:49,040
as he beats himself
penitentially with a rock.

509
00:38:51,520 --> 00:38:55,199
This is the Renaissance
that history forgot -

510
00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:59,519
intense, neurotic, realistic.

511
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:04,599
And the reason Torrigiano
can be as convincing as this

512
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:07,879
is because this
isn't made out of marble,

513
00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:11,599
it is made out of terracotta, clay,

514
00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:15,879
which you can mould
and shape and paint

515
00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:18,240
with so much more detail.

516
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:25,039
Yes, it's less macho
than stone carving,

517
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:30,119
but that doesn't make it
less Renaissance.

518
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:34,960
And it's a tradition that
doesn't deserve to be forgotten.

519
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,879
This is what they call
a compianto,

520
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:45,759
a lamentation over the dead Christ,

521
00:39:45,760 --> 00:39:50,640
by an artist from Bologna
called Niccolo dell'Arca.

522
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:56,999
This was made in around 1460.

523
00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,999
That's right, 1460.

524
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:04,319
It's way ahead of its time.

525
00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:08,839
One of the most dynamic
and exciting masterpieces

526
00:40:08,840 --> 00:40:11,000
of Renaissance sculpture.

527
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:16,959
Even Michelangelo,
when he came here to Bologna,

528
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:19,639
admired Niccolo dell'Arca.

529
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:24,680
But since then, he's been written
out of the story of the Renaissance.

530
00:40:27,240 --> 00:40:31,199
You just don't hear
about Niccolo dell'Arca.

531
00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:32,839
Why?

532
00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:36,679
Because terracotta - burnt clay -

533
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:40,039
is such unglamorous stuff.

534
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:44,599
You don't have to go
to Carrara to find it,

535
00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:48,799
you just look down
at the ground under your feet,

536
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:50,920
and there it is.

537
00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:04,559
And the Lord rained upon
Sodom and Gomorrah

538
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,920
brimstone and fire
from out of heaven.

539
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:21,719
You remember earlier in the film

540
00:41:21,720 --> 00:41:24,559
how I mentioned Girolamo Savonarola

541
00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:27,359
and how we'd be coming back to him?

542
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,080
Well, now's that time.

543
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:37,119
That's him, painted by
Fra Bartolomeo,

544
00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:42,160
another of the artistic Dominicans
working here at San Marco.

545
00:41:44,720 --> 00:41:47,439
Savonarola was not the kind of monk

546
00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:51,159
you'd like to meet down
a dark Florentine alley.

547
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:55,639
Swarthy, hook-nosed, intense -

548
00:41:55,640 --> 00:42:01,119
he entered the Dominican Order
in 1475.

549
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:03,879
Apparently, he just
knocked on the door

550
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:06,359
of the Dominican convent in Bologna

551
00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:11,039
and announced that he was
going to be a knight of Christ,

552
00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:12,680
so they let him in.

553
00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:19,679
In 1482, he moved to Florence,

554
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:23,759
where his first task was
to teach logic and ethics

555
00:42:23,760 --> 00:42:27,279
to the San Marco novices.

556
00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:30,279
Judging by what happened next,

557
00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:35,760
logic and ethics were not
things he knew much about.

558
00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:42,639
At some point in
his early days in Florence,

559
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:44,839
Savonarola had a vision.

560
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:50,319
He saw that the Catholic church
was in need of purging

561
00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:53,919
and he began to suspect
that he might be the one

562
00:42:53,920 --> 00:42:56,240
who had been chosen to do it.

563
00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:00,999
According to Savonarola,

564
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:05,160
the Renaissance world
had grown sinful and corrupt.

565
00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:09,480
The rich had grown corrupt.

566
00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:13,360
Art had grown corrupt.

567
00:43:19,680 --> 00:43:24,319
As these sermons of Savonarola's
grew more and more fiery,

568
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:27,319
so more and more people
wanted to hear them.

569
00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:30,719
Soon there wasn't enough room
in San Marco

570
00:43:30,720 --> 00:43:35,159
and he began preaching here
in the Duomo in Florence

571
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:37,000
to ever-larger crowds.

572
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:45,600
Savonarola preached against make-up
and immodest behaviour.

573
00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:50,359
Against music, dancing

574
00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:52,559
and licentiousness.

575
00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:57,679
And he began preaching,
as well, against art,

576
00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:02,840
and those examples of it that
were not Christian enough for him.

577
00:44:06,080 --> 00:44:09,359
Things reached a head in 1493,

578
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:12,919
when he had an especially
apocalyptic vision

579
00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:16,719
that the sword of the Lord
was about to fall on the city.

580
00:44:16,720 --> 00:44:20,439
Now, as it happened,
at exactly the same time,

581
00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:23,759
the French were
about to invade Italy.

582
00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:28,959
And when they turned up
outside Florence in 1494,

583
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:32,159
it was as if Savonarola's prophecies

584
00:44:32,160 --> 00:44:35,360
were about to become uncannily true.

585
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:45,919
God, it seemed, had decided
to back Savonarola to the hilt.

586
00:44:45,920 --> 00:44:50,920
Every one of his mad prophecies
was coming true.

587
00:44:55,600 --> 00:44:58,559
If this had been
a genuinely enlightened era,

588
00:44:58,560 --> 00:45:01,479
the kind of Renaissance
we've all been taught about,

589
00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:05,039
then Savonarola's prophecies
would have been recognised

590
00:45:05,040 --> 00:45:07,879
as the rantings of a lunatic.

591
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:11,759
But the Renaissance never was
as enlightened or progressive

592
00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:13,559
as we've been taught

593
00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:15,999
and, instead of locking him up,

594
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:19,720
Renaissance Florence
turned herself over to him.

595
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:27,799
Gangs of young men
began to patrol the city

596
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:32,520
to ensure that women were
wearing suitably modest dress.

597
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:37,079
New laws were issued

598
00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:41,680
against sodomy,
adultery, drunkenness.

599
00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:46,839
And a series of bonfires
were started -

600
00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:49,600
the Bonfire of the Vanities...

601
00:45:51,360 --> 00:45:55,000
..and all that was sinful
was thrown on them.

602
00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:02,919
Botticelli, who had painted
such gorgeous re-imaginings

603
00:46:02,920 --> 00:46:04,319
of the classical world,

604
00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:07,239
was one of several
Florentine painters

605
00:46:07,240 --> 00:46:09,999
who fell under Savonarola's spell

606
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:13,239
and who were persuaded
to throw their pagan art

607
00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:15,760
onto the Bonfire of the Vanities.

608
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:22,479
It's also said -
with good reason, I think -

609
00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:25,279
that this strange painting,

610
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:28,559
Botticelli's Mystic Nativity,

611
00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:34,560
was inspired directly by one
of Savonarola's Christmas sermons.

612
00:46:35,960 --> 00:46:40,679
"Christ will come again,"
said Savonarola,

613
00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:45,279
"and when he does,
the countdown will begin"

614
00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:47,480
"to the end of the world."

615
00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:52,639
Savonarola's reign of terror
didn't last long.

616
00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:59,079
In 1498, he was challenged by
the Franciscans to a trial by fire

617
00:46:59,080 --> 00:47:02,759
to prove that his Dominican
prophecies were true.

618
00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:06,759
Savonarola refused,
and the mood in Florence

619
00:47:06,760 --> 00:47:09,320
turned quickly against him.

620
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:17,439
Imprisoned and tortured
by the Papal Inquisition,

621
00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:23,000
he confessed that his visions
and prophecies had all been made up.

622
00:47:24,120 --> 00:47:26,079
And a few weeks later,

623
00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:30,879
they hanged him in the
Piazza Signoria in Florence,

624
00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:34,479
and then burned his broken body

625
00:47:34,480 --> 00:47:37,240
to keep it from the relic-hunters.

626
00:47:43,240 --> 00:47:45,119
Remember earlier in the film

627
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:47,559
we were looking at
baby Jesuses in art

628
00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:49,519
and why they are so ugly?

629
00:47:49,520 --> 00:47:52,760
Well, this is the other end
of the story.

630
00:47:56,680 --> 00:48:00,799
Jesus was 33
when he died on the cross,

631
00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:02,960
a fully-grown man.

632
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:06,639
But in Renaissance pietas,

633
00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:11,240
Mary cradles him on her lap
as if he was still a baby.

634
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:17,039
It's one of the
most awkward poses in art,

635
00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:20,920
and only the best artists
could pull it off.

636
00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:27,839
Imagine me stretched across
the lap of my mother,

637
00:48:27,840 --> 00:48:31,280
and she's holding me up
as if I were weightless.

638
00:48:32,320 --> 00:48:35,000
That's so hard to get right.

639
00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:39,479
And what all these pietas
are trying to do

640
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:43,959
is to link the death of Jesus
with his birth,

641
00:48:43,960 --> 00:48:47,359
because Jesus was born to die,

642
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:50,719
and by dying save the rest of us.

643
00:48:50,720 --> 00:48:56,159
That's why the baby Jesus
looks forward to the man

644
00:48:56,160 --> 00:49:01,040
and the manly Jesus
looks back to the baby.

645
00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:05,200
It's a very problematic scenario.

646
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:12,999
Not surprisingly,
most Renaissance artists

647
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:17,800
tied themselves into ugly knots
trying to imagine it.

648
00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:23,319
Here's Cosimo Tura from Ferrara -

649
00:49:23,320 --> 00:49:25,439
different as ever,

650
00:49:25,440 --> 00:49:28,479
and describing
the impossible scene

651
00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:31,760
with a wild-eyed
and wired intensity.

652
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:39,279
Even the great Perugino,

653
00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:41,639
usually so poised,

654
00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:46,279
struggles mightily
with the terrible dynamics

655
00:49:46,280 --> 00:49:48,560
of this terrible pose.

656
00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:53,719
This particular pieta

657
00:49:53,720 --> 00:49:56,479
is by an artist called Sodoma.

658
00:49:56,480 --> 00:49:59,519
I'm sure I don't need to tell you
why he was called that,

659
00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:02,239
this is the Renaissance after all.

660
00:50:02,240 --> 00:50:08,440
Anyway, it's a decent stab at
this fiendishly difficult subject.

661
00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:13,999
What Sodoma's pieta gets wrong

662
00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:17,160
isn't the anatomy but the mood.

663
00:50:18,800 --> 00:50:22,799
There's a tenderness missing.

664
00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:27,079
Sodoma gives us a decent Jesus.

665
00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:30,160
It's the Mary he can't manage.

666
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:36,159
If Jesus was 33 when he died,

667
00:50:36,160 --> 00:50:39,799
Mary would have been around 50,

668
00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:42,359
so she has to be middle-aged

669
00:50:42,360 --> 00:50:47,119
yet also emblematically
beautiful and innocent.

670
00:50:47,120 --> 00:50:49,919
Now, how do you paint that?

671
00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:53,520
It's an enormous challenge
for any artist.

672
00:50:57,080 --> 00:51:01,599
One of my favourite pietas
is this one in the Louvre,

673
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:06,240
painted in around 1450 in Avignon.

674
00:51:07,840 --> 00:51:10,999
This is pioneering French realism.

675
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:13,879
Feel the emotional depth

676
00:51:13,880 --> 00:51:16,720
of this forgotten
French Renaissance.

677
00:51:21,120 --> 00:51:23,919
So the pieta was a test

678
00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:26,559
that only the greatest could pass.

679
00:51:26,560 --> 00:51:30,239
And here in St Peter's in Rome,

680
00:51:30,240 --> 00:51:35,080
Michelangelo finally gives us
the perfect example.

681
00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:40,079
He makes his Mary a little bigger

682
00:51:40,080 --> 00:51:43,959
and his Jesus a little smaller

683
00:51:43,960 --> 00:51:47,560
so they fit together gracefully.

684
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:53,879
And, yes, Mary is
a bit young for her age,

685
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:56,919
but this extra youth

686
00:51:56,920 --> 00:52:00,959
adds a note of fragility
to the moment

687
00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:03,719
and stokes up the tenderness

688
00:52:03,720 --> 00:52:06,680
of the mother-son relationship.

689
00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:22,079
So that's Zechariah, 14:1.

690
00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:25,560
"Behold, a day of the Lord cometh."

691
00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:39,479
This is another Michelangelo,

692
00:52:39,480 --> 00:52:41,039
the Risen Christ.

693
00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:44,879
It's the moment when Jesus,
risen from the dead,

694
00:52:44,880 --> 00:52:48,679
comes back to earth
after the crucifixion.

695
00:52:48,680 --> 00:52:50,839
According to the scriptures,

696
00:52:50,840 --> 00:52:53,719
he's supposed to be
completely naked,

697
00:52:53,720 --> 00:52:57,759
because he left his shroud in
the sepulchre when they buried him.

698
00:52:57,760 --> 00:53:02,159
And that's how Michelangelo
originally sculpted him.

699
00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:04,079
But, as you can see,

700
00:53:04,080 --> 00:53:08,480
someone has added
this discreet loincloth.

701
00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:14,599
Happily, it's removable.

702
00:53:14,600 --> 00:53:19,999
In the past, when the famously
liberal John XXIII was Pope,

703
00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:23,799
Jesus was allowed to be fully naked,

704
00:53:23,800 --> 00:53:27,279
as Michelangelo sculpted him.

705
00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:30,200
But these days, he's not.

706
00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:35,439
You can always tell the papal mood

707
00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:39,719
by coming here to
Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome

708
00:53:39,720 --> 00:53:43,519
and seeing if
Michelangelo's Christ is naked,

709
00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:45,399
as he's supposed to be,

710
00:53:45,400 --> 00:53:49,240
or covered up, as the authorities
have decided he should be.

711
00:53:51,840 --> 00:53:53,959
So far in this film,

712
00:53:53,960 --> 00:53:57,560
I've only nibbled at
the edges of Michelangelo.

713
00:53:58,840 --> 00:54:02,319
He's such a huge
Renaissance presence

714
00:54:02,320 --> 00:54:04,879
you'd need a 24-part series

715
00:54:04,880 --> 00:54:08,119
to tackle him properly on the telly,

716
00:54:08,120 --> 00:54:12,399
and not the few minutes
I have left in this film.

717
00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:17,559
So there's only time
to focus on one aspect of him.

718
00:54:17,560 --> 00:54:19,799
But it's the key aspect -

719
00:54:19,800 --> 00:54:22,440
his religious fierceness.

720
00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:26,399
With some Renaissance artists,

721
00:54:26,400 --> 00:54:30,039
it's never entirely clear
what they believe in.

722
00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:34,239
But, with Michelangelo,
there's never any doubt

723
00:54:34,240 --> 00:54:39,479
that he's an old-fashioned,
tub-thumping Italian Catholic -

724
00:54:39,480 --> 00:54:43,960
guilty, angsty and devoted.

725
00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:51,319
It's true of everything he made,

726
00:54:51,320 --> 00:54:55,959
but it's particularly true
of his masterpiece -

727
00:54:55,960 --> 00:54:57,800
the Sistine Chapel.

728
00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:02,519
It's the greatest room of art
in the world,

729
00:55:02,520 --> 00:55:06,720
a banquet of tremendous
religious storytelling...

730
00:55:07,840 --> 00:55:10,280
..and not just by Michelangelo.

731
00:55:11,440 --> 00:55:13,719
Botticelli is in here too,

732
00:55:13,720 --> 00:55:18,359
showing the Punishment
of Korah, Dathan and Abiram,

733
00:55:18,360 --> 00:55:22,560
when God burns them up
with invisible fire.

734
00:55:26,560 --> 00:55:29,479
And here's Perugino again,

735
00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:34,039
with Christ handing
the keys of heaven to St Peter,

736
00:55:34,040 --> 00:55:37,920
and doing it so gracefully.

737
00:55:42,360 --> 00:55:43,679
So, on the lower level,

738
00:55:43,680 --> 00:55:48,239
there are all these impressive
frescoes by other artists.

739
00:55:48,240 --> 00:55:52,679
And then, up above,
there's Michelangelo.

740
00:55:52,680 --> 00:55:56,559
Together, they act as one space

741
00:55:56,560 --> 00:55:59,999
that encircles you with art

742
00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:04,320
and engulfs you in
a dark religious storyline.

743
00:56:07,760 --> 00:56:13,360
There is no angrier God in art
than the God of the Sistine Chapel.

744
00:56:16,720 --> 00:56:21,920
He presides over a room filled
with trepidation and guilt.

745
00:56:24,400 --> 00:56:27,959
Up on high, God creates Adam,

746
00:56:27,960 --> 00:56:30,320
and Adam lets him down.

747
00:56:33,080 --> 00:56:36,119
God creates Noah,

748
00:56:36,120 --> 00:56:38,800
and Noah lets him down.

749
00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:44,119
God creates the prophets,

750
00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:47,120
and the prophets let him down.

751
00:56:49,240 --> 00:56:51,759
And because they are prophets,

752
00:56:51,760 --> 00:56:53,840
they know what is coming.

753
00:56:56,640 --> 00:57:01,359
It's like a steam roller
of fear passing over you,

754
00:57:01,360 --> 00:57:05,679
a typhoon of guilt,
trepidation and anxiety

755
00:57:05,680 --> 00:57:08,040
blowing through the Vatican.

756
00:57:09,520 --> 00:57:12,879
And because it's happening
all around you,

757
00:57:12,880 --> 00:57:15,359
it pulls you into it,

758
00:57:15,360 --> 00:57:17,560
it soaks into you.

759
00:57:23,640 --> 00:57:27,999
And the reason why
everyone up there is so frightened

760
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:31,279
is made clear by Michelangelo

761
00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:33,040
on the far wall.

762
00:57:35,160 --> 00:57:39,399
This isn't any old day
we've walked into.

763
00:57:39,400 --> 00:57:42,479
This is the last day of all,

764
00:57:42,480 --> 00:57:44,880
the Day of Judgment.

765
00:57:46,120 --> 00:57:49,119
Just as Zechariah predicted,

766
00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:52,559
the end of the world is upon us

767
00:57:52,560 --> 00:57:56,520
and everyone up there knows it.

768
00:58:00,280 --> 00:58:03,519
And, of course, it isn't just
the saints and the prophets

769
00:58:03,520 --> 00:58:07,079
painted by Michelangelo
who are being judged,

770
00:58:07,080 --> 00:58:10,999
everyone who walks into
the Sistine Chapel

771
00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:13,999
walks into the day of reckoning.

772
00:58:14,000 --> 00:58:15,920
We're all being judged.

773
00:58:17,720 --> 00:58:21,439
The whole room is judging us

774
00:58:21,440 --> 00:58:25,560
and terrifying us with
the consequences of our sins.

775
00:58:29,520 --> 00:58:31,879
Who's going to be saved

776
00:58:31,880 --> 00:58:34,400
and who's going to be doomed?

777
00:58:35,320 --> 00:58:38,799
That's what the walls are asking us.

778
00:58:38,800 --> 00:58:41,359
It's not a very Greek question,

779
00:58:41,360 --> 00:58:45,000
but it is a very Renaissance one.

780
00:58:57,440 --> 00:59:00,919
In the next film,
things cheer up again

781
00:59:00,920 --> 00:59:03,359
when we go to Venice.

782
00:59:03,360 --> 00:59:07,519
We'll be eating, we'll be drinking,

783
00:59:07,520 --> 00:59:10,440
and we'll be doing a bit of this...