Suspended between the heaven and hell he imagined, the restorers of the Vatican Museums are busy cleaning the imposing mural of , the masterpiece that presides. They are removing a whitish layer that has been deposited on the pictorial surface and has been dulling the vividness of the figures since the last restoration, which was carried out just over thirty years ago.
A scaffold covered with a printed fabric that reproduces the colossal painting hides the fresco and allows technicians to work during the day without having to close the room, while visitors fill the Sistine Chapel, jewel of the Renaissance and symbolic epicenter of the Vatican, famous for its painted vaults and for hosting the conclave in which the Pope is elected. The intervention is expected to be completed by Easter.
“We have been forced to place a scaffolding because, although the fresco is in very good condition, we needed to remove this layer of saltpeter. It is a very easy operation,” said the director of the Vatican Museums, Barbara Jatta, this Saturday, next to the altar of the Chapel. The director has pointed out that it is not a restoration – which is a more complex and invasive process – but rather “extraordinary maintenance work”, that is, a cleaning necessary to erase the trace left by the more than six million visitors who visit the Vatican Museums each year, with the Sistine Chapel as the protagonist.
The film that has been covering the painting and giving it a whitish appearance is actually calcium lactate, a type of salt that has formed in this poorly ventilated space due to the microparticles generated by the breathing and perspiration of the millions of visitors.
The head of Scientific Research at the Vatican Museums, Fabio Morresi, explained that this sediment has not damaged the painting. “The salt that has formed is on the surface and is easily removed,” he noted. But this veil of dirt “had eclipsed the chromatic leaps of The final judgment the expert has pointed out, and that is why it is necessary to remove it to return the splendor to the work. This extraordinary cleaning comes three decades after , which brought to light colors that no one had seen since Michelangelo finished the work five centuries ago, but which divided experts between those who considered the intervention too aggressive and those who argued that it returned the fresco to its original splendor.
Vatican experts have detailed that this new intervention is not too complicated. To clean the fresco, they go over the enormous surface, delicately applying deionized water with brushes on a layer of Japanese paper that is used to protect the pigments. With this system, the work recovers its original brilliance, little by little. “It’s like when you get out of the water on the beach and you shake off the sea salt from your skin,” Jatta illustrated.
The restorers began the cleaning a few weeks ago and the whitish layer is still visible on some of the figures. The final judgment, although it does not deteriorate the paint. A group of media, including EL PAÍS, has accessed the scaffolding on a visit organized by the Vatican Museums, and has been able to see how the work will change when it is completely clean. The colors of the part that is still dirty look dull and whitish, while the clean areas shine with the original tones. When passing your hand over the wall you can see that the texture is the same on both, which indicates that the paint remains unchanged.
From the scaffolding you can see the imposing composition of The final judgment almost like Michelangelo did. The perspective allows us to appreciate the dramatic force of each body and the dynamism of the scene, dominated by the figure of Christ represented in the moment before issuing the verdict of the Judgment, and enhanced by the intense depth of the blue background. From above you can see the contours of each figure and new details, such as the open wound on Christ’s side, which from below is almost undetectable. The brush strokes merge with the tiny cracks in the wall. You can even distinguish the regrets (regrets) of the master: small changes that he left visible, such as the heel of one of the angels – whom he drew without wings – that he moved, which reveals how he adjusted and rethought the composition while working directly on the fresco.
The restorers explain that, unlike other works in the Sistine Chapel – such as those in the vault that narrate episodes from Genesis – where Michelangelo usually used previous preparations or tracings to plan the figures, in The final judgment He launched himself straight at the wall, painting decisively and adjusting the composition on the fly, with complete creative freedom.
The Vatican Museums are also taking advantage of this extraordinary intervention to document in detail the state of the work and study the cumulative effects of millions of visits over the years. From this data, conservators seek to design long-term prevention and maintenance methods.
The Sistine Chapel, a true treasure chest of universal art, brings together works by masters such as Botticelli and Ghirlandaio, who painted scenes from the life of Jesus and Moses on its walls.
Michelangelo was called in 1508 by Pope Julius II to recreate Genesis, the origin of the world, in the vault. Almost three decades later, at the age of 61 and already consecrated as a “divine artist,” he received the commission from another pontiff, Paul III, to represent on this occasion the end of earthly life: the final judgment.
In the center of the composition, Christ, against a clear, blue sky, raises his right arm, as if trying to calm the agitation of the souls around him, ready to pass sentence, while dozens of saints and saints anxiously await his verdict. Some are perfectly recognizable: Saint Peter with the two keys, Saint Lawrence with the grill or Saint Bartholomew with his own flayed skin, in which experts identify Michelangelo’s self-portrait.
Below, the angels of the Apocalypse awaken the dead with the sound of their trumpets to subject them to Judgment. Some are sent to heaven and others are dragged to hell.
It took the Renaissance genius five years, from 1536 to 1541, to complete The final judgment, a fresco that caused such an impact that, it is said, the Pope fell to his knees upon seeing it, imploring divine forgiveness, shocked by the scenes that the painter had evoked.
This masterpiece will soon regain all its splendor and luminosity, ready to continue shaking those who contemplate it.
