Kudos to Chantal Sulkow. However, someone needs to delve even deeper into Michelangelo’s writings to uncover his comments regarding the Kabbala and his complex, unusual, perhaps even unorthodox views of Christianity. Michelangelo studied with Giovanni Pico della Mirandola in Florence and Pico’s teachings need closer examination before we can understand Michelangelo. As Sulkow writes: Michelangelo’s interpretation of the ancestors of Christ is “unconventional” and that is precisely the point. On the Sistine Ceiling he painted only one Jew or Old Testament figure wearing a yellow circle, that was Amminadab. Jews in early 15th century Italy were forced to wear the yellow circle although Rome was more lenient and didn’t always enforce anti-Jewish laws. The figure Michelangelo chose to mark with the yellow circle, Amminadab, son of Ram, was from the tribe of Judah, and a grandfather of all the high priests and the progenitor to Davidic dynasty of Israel. THROUGH ELISHEBA, HIS DAUGHTER, AMMINADAB IS TWICE THE ANCESTOR OF MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS. SO IS MICHELANGELO EMPHASIZING THAT THE MOTHER OF JESUS WAS JEWISH? AND NOT BEING NEGATIVE TOWARD AMMINADAB? As for the woman combing her hair behind Amminadab, Corinthians 11:15 says: if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her… So Michelangelo is not necessarily portraying her to represent vanity in a negative way as Sulkow suggests. After the ceiling’s cleaning it’s fair to ask if Amminadab wears a “grimace;” he simply looks straight forward. When Sulkow reads Ruth Mellinkoff on Michelangelo and Moses’ horns she will amend her comments. Mellinkoff demonstrated that Moses’ horns were a sign of both “honor and power” and are seen that way in both the Old and New Testaments. Michelangelo is not mocking or insulting Moses. Rashi suggested the horns were “light emanating in the form of horns.” Michelangelo’s Moses is certainly not “demonizing the race,” as Sulkow suggests.
ZETEO 
Kudos to Chantal Sulkow. However, someone needs to delve even deeper into Michelangelo’s writings to uncover his comments regarding the Kabbala and his complex, unusual, perhaps even unorthodox views of Christianity. Michelangelo studied with Giovanni Pico della Mirandola in Florence and Pico’s teachings need closer examination before we can understand Michelangelo. As Sulkow writes: Michelangelo’s interpretation of the ancestors of Christ is “unconventional” and that is precisely the point. On the Sistine Ceiling he painted only one Jew or Old Testament figure wearing a yellow circle, that was Amminadab. Jews in early 15th century Italy were forced to wear the yellow circle although Rome was more lenient and didn’t always enforce anti-Jewish laws. The figure Michelangelo chose to mark with the yellow circle, Amminadab, son of Ram, was from the tribe of Judah, and a grandfather of all the high priests and the progenitor to Davidic dynasty of Israel. THROUGH ELISHEBA, HIS DAUGHTER, AMMINADAB IS TWICE THE ANCESTOR OF MARY, THE MOTHER OF JESUS. SO IS MICHELANGELO EMPHASIZING THAT THE MOTHER OF JESUS WAS JEWISH? AND NOT BEING NEGATIVE TOWARD AMMINADAB? As for the woman combing her hair behind Amminadab, Corinthians 11:15 says: if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her… So Michelangelo is not necessarily portraying her to represent vanity in a negative way as Sulkow suggests. After the ceiling’s cleaning it’s fair to ask if Amminadab wears a “grimace;” he simply looks straight forward. When Sulkow reads Ruth Mellinkoff on Michelangelo and Moses’ horns she will amend her comments. Mellinkoff demonstrated that Moses’ horns were a sign of both “honor and power” and are seen that way in both the Old and New Testaments. Michelangelo is not mocking or insulting Moses. Rashi suggested the horns were “light emanating in the form of horns.” Michelangelo’s Moses is certainly not “demonizing the race,” as Sulkow suggests.
LikeLike