31 March 2010

Sistine Chapel Re-Creation

We all know of the magnificent Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 to 1512, but if you're like me you may not have seen images other than in books—I've never visited the Sistine Chapel in real life. It was a delight therefore to discover that Vassar College's Stan Frangible (whose human is named Steve Taylor) has re-created the chapel in Second Life in astonishing detail, using exact dimensions and reproducing every piece of artwork. The chapel is much smaller and more intimate than I had somehow anticipated, and seeing the artwork as a whole is a completely different experience than leafing through the glossy pages of an art book.

Along the lower walls of the chapel are some blank spaces, but if you click on them they spring to life with tapestries by Raphael, commissioned in 1515. Unfortunately in real life the originals were destroyed in the Sack of Rome in 1527, but a duplicate set (made at the same time as the originals) was re-hung a few years ago. So here you have the option of seeing them or not, as you please. (They're showing in the top photo here—click on the photos to zoom in.) Not all of the artwork in the Sistine Chapel is by Michelangelo and Raphael—visit and you will also see works by Bernini, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and others. (If you go into edit and click on the paintings, most will tell you the name of the artist and the name of the work.) To explore the Sistine Chapel Re-Creation in Second Life, click here.

My outfit in these images is the Monocrom top and bottom from Sweetest Good-bye and Pinto boots from INDI Designs.

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