Raphael (notices Picasso studiously looking up at the ceiling)
Which passage interests you, Pablo? It's hard to pick a favourite from among so many wonderful paintings.
Picasso (relaxes his shoulders and, shaking his head in wonder he glances at Raphael)
Truly amazing. It is now five centuries since Michelangelo climbed down from his scaffolding for the last time. Just amazing. I'm looking at the panel of god creating the stars and planets. It is Michelangelo's treatment of space, in the cinquecento for heaven's sake, that fascinates me.
You see how it's possible to estimate the depth of the space god occupies by "measuring" the distance between his pointed fingertips? Or on the left, between the soles of his feet and the outstretched left hand. It's figures like this that inspired superhero fantasies in the 20th century. Uccello played with this a bit in the quattrocento ...
Paolo Uccello, Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano (probably c. 1438–1440), egg tempera with walnut oil and linseed oil on poplar, 182 × 320 cm,National Gallery, London.
... as did the great Mantegna just years before Michelangelo, a sculptor remember, painted this spectacular ceiling cycle.
Lamentation of the Dead Christ by Andrea Mantegna (c.1490)
But truly, Michelangelo is the artist who changed everything. You, Raphael, are a great artist without doubt. However, for shear inventiveness, Michelangelo has no equal. Ahem, well ... at least not until the early 20th century when a young painter named Picasso changes it all again. Nevertheless, the liberties that I have taken in representing three-dimensional space might never have been possible without the daring example of Michelangelo. Oh, I suppose that's an oversimplification, but standing here, one can't help wanting to ascribe everything wonderful about painting to Michelangelo. I mean, just look at the next panel ... god dividing the water from the earth.
The tompe l'oeil architectural details, the contorted figures that frame what looks like a hole in the ceiling, revealing god whirling around the heavens. He looks ready to burst through that opening and swoop down into the chapel with us. Astonishing. I'm sure that Gian Lorenzo must see this as the beginning of Baroque tromp l'oeil.
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