Published May 27, 2011, in Education Film analysis of the movie "Agony and Ecstasy". AP European History Maury High School 2010 - 2011 School Year

1. The Agony and
the Ecstasy
Frances Coronel
Sistine Chapel:
God Giving Life To Adam
From Michelangelo
Movie Poster:
The Agony and the Ecstasy

2. The High Renaissance
period from end of 15th century became known as High
Renaissance
when Venice and Rome began to share Florence's
importance
Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, and Michelangelo were
active and at their highest point of career
... so anyways.. Renaissance thinking spread to rest of
Europe from early 16th century and was influential for
the next hundred years

3. Now... a little history on Michelangelo
Italian sculptor, painter, architect,
and poet, lived from
leading figure of High
Renaissance, as he lived from
1475-1504
established his reputation with
sculptures such as Pietà and David
This is apparently how Michelangelo got his idea on
the “Creation of Adam” entity on the Sistine Chapel
Ceiling...

4. There’s a book...
The Agony and the Ecstasy written
by Irving Stone was presented as an
biographical novel for Michelangelo.
“I, Michelangelo, Sculptor” is a
collection of 495 letters sent to and
written by Michelangelo; translated
into English around 1960 by Irving
Stone with help of an Italian
professor
Irving Stone relied a lot on these
letters when writing "The Agony and
the Ecstasy" (1962)
film made only 3 years later in 1965

5. So what is the MOVIE all about?
They skipped a lot of parts that were in the book. Mostly
Michelangelo’s childhood and older years. They focused
primarily on his 4 years of work for the Sistine Chapel
ceiling.
BASIC PLOT: Pope Julius is eager to leave behind works
by which he will be remembered. So he ends up
persuading Michelangelo in painting the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel. When not on the battlefield uniting Italy,
the Pope nags Michelangelo to speed up his painful work
on ceiling.

6. Who cares about the Renaissance?
...Behind it’s Usefulness...
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 
 
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 
Only some of topics, rest of topics range from Imperialism to Women In Europe.
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




7. More on the Usefulness...













♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ 
♦ 


♦ 



♦ 
♦ 
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On Reformation and Renaissance
Mannerism Michelangelo used impacted Northern Humanism art....

8. Even more on usefulness!
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Renaissance

9. 1st Movie Clip
accurate
as pope, Julius II became one of most powerful rulers of Renaissance
but more concerned with political matters than theological ones
became known as "the warrior pope"
worked hard to restore and preserve Papal States and led military efforts to
hold off intruding forces of France
active foreign policy, ambitious building projects, and patronage for the arts
This movie clip portrays the pope as a warrior and knight of
the people. It is presented in 2 different parts because the part
in between only included the knights and the pope riding on
their horses for about 2 minutes.

10. Part 1:
Pope
Kills
Part 2:
Victory
is Won
Pope
riding
on
horse...

11. 2nd Movie Clip
accurate
The movie accurately describes how time
consuming and difficult it was to paint a fresco
on a ceiling.
The clip shows Michelangelo and his
apprentices diligently working on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

13. 3rd Movie Clip
inaccurate
Michelangelo never painted on his back and was never
alone when he was painting.
you need many assistants, just to mix paints, scramble up
and down ladders, and prepare the plaster
he had to bend backwards a lot and crouch in awkward
positions and received much physical pain because of it
This movie clip inaccurately depicts
Michelangelo as an artist who would lie down
alone and paint on his back

15. 4th Movie Clip
inaccurate
Michelangelo is showing the Pope his idea for the Sistine
Chapel after he had his revelation on the mountain. The
Pope ends up offering him only 6000 ducats which is
actually inaccurate because Michelangelo only received
3000, about 23.15lbs of 98.6% gold, which if you think
about it- IS NOT A LOT for what Michelangelo made.
This movie clip depicts Michelangelo’s stress as
he becomes aware he will only be paid 6000
ducats, which is not even historically accurate.

17. 5th Movie Clip
accurate
As most of you would know, artists in the
Renaissance had to have a patron in order to get
paid well enough and have a decent living.
Movie Clip: While Michelangelo is packing
to leave since the Pope laid him off the
commission fro the ceiling, a fellow artist
talks to him about the way of the lives of
artists in their time.

19. Movie Both What really happened
Some believe Michelangelo
might have been bisexual
because he wrote love letters
to at least one man and one
woman but in the movie he
seems to be strictly
heterosexual.
The relationship between
Michelangelo and
Contessina, a daughter of
Lorenzo de Medici, is greatly
dramatized.
Michelangelo is depicted as a
very stubborn man which is
both accurate outside and
inside of the film
Michelangelo and Pope Julius
II had a wayward relationship
mainly because the Pope
pressured Michelangelo to do
whatever he wanted him to in
the name of the Church.
Michelangelo had a very bad
situation when it came to the
Sistine Chapel for all the
work he did and for getting
how much he got paid for it.
movie chose to concentrate
only on four years through
which Michelangelo suffered
pangs of creation as he
painted the first book of Bible
on ceiling of Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo definitely
expressed his feelings about
his arch nemesis, Leonardo
Da Vinci more often than
not. But that’s not portrayed
in the movie.
Michelangelo was never really
interested in Contessina
romantically as they both
grew older and she got
married to another man. He
did have a major crush on her
when they were younger, but
that was it.

20. Accuracy
Warrior Pope Julius II
How they painted those breathtaking images back then...
Mannerism is accurately depicted, we learned about mannerism in
AP Euro.. mannerism as we know is a style of 16th-century Italian
art that was characterized by unusual effects of scale, lighting, and
perspective, and the use of bright, often lurid colors
Explains how art was used by politicians to gain power and
influence (ex. Medici, Popes)
Represents the changes in the government of Florence that
occurred, as with Savanarola taking power over Florence
Rome is correctly shown as a city in decay during the Middle Ages

21. Oh wow.
Surprisingly, just as Michelangelo and
Pope Julius were not very fond of each
other because of the way the Pope
tormented Michelangelo, the actors Rex
Harrison (Pope) did not get along with
Charlton Heston (Michelangelo) at all
during filming. Twelve years later, while
filming Crossed Swords (1977), they
avoided each other completely.

22. The Sistine Chapel Paradox
5000 square feet of frescoes in a method of art that Michelangelo didn’t
even particularly enjoy that took him 4 years and was underpaid for, as he
only got paid <3000 ducats, about 23.15lbs of 98.6% gold. SERIOUSLY?

23. What Others Think
Reviewers credit director as having succeeded in conveying
tormenting struggles of a genius, as well as portraying two
strong men whose opposition to each other often erupted in
rage, but whose high regard for each other softened this anger
26 July 2008
Author: thinker1691 from USA
The film illustrates the great suffering the
artist endured for a commission he
never asked for. ...The movie itself is
classic in nature and it's effect is
breathtaking in it's climatic rendering.
Excellance is the final gift.
9/10 stars
1 July 2005
Author: silverscreen888
This is a fascinating, colorful and very-
well made film that looks like an epic
and is in fact an intelligent drama about
sculptor-painter- architect-poet
Michelangelo Buonarrotti.
8/10 stars

24. What I Think
It’s definitely an invaluable way to learn more about
Michelangelo. It makes me admire him more but at the
same time somewhat pity him because he always had to be
working and never had much of a social life. But there’s
always a price so...
There is a lot more to the Renaissance, mostly bad stuff,
that I learned about with this movie... especially when it
comes to the whole class system with the artists and the
popes and how artists are treated like tools.
The music was a little cheesy at parts but the overall
execution of what Michelangelo was doing was great.

25. Sources
Buonarroti, Michelangelo. I, Michelangelo, sculptor: An autobiography through letters. New York City, New York, U.S.A.: New American
Library, 1964. Print.
"IMDb user reviews for The Agony and the Ecstasy." IMDb. The Internet Movie Database, 1999-2011. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://
www.imdb.com/title/tt0058886/usercomments?filter=best>.
Neret, Gilles. Michelangelo. Special ed Edition. Los Angeles, CA: TASCHEN, 2010. Print.
Stone, Irving. The Agony and the Ecstasy . 1st ed. New York, New York, U.S.A: Doubleday, 1961. Print.
"The Agony and the Ecstasy." Wahello. Wahello.com, 2000-2009. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://www.walhello.com/
the+agony+and+the+ecstasy.html>.
Rich, David. "2008 AP EXAM REVIEW GUIDE." AP European History. Westerchester Country Day School, 2007-2008. Web. 16 May
2011. <http://faculty.westchestercds.us/davidrich/ files/ ap%20europe/2008%20REVIEW%20GUIDE.pdf>.
Rojas, Ms. Laurie. "The Renaissance – Michelangelo [1475 - 1564]." At European History. University of Chicago, 12 October 2007.
Web. 16 May 2011. <http://blogs.ucls.uchicago.edu/apeh/2007/10/12/the-renaissance-michelangelo-1475-1564/>.