“Solace” & Michelangelo’s Agony & Ecstasy

Letter to Romans: It took Michelangelo 4 yrs to grace the Sistine Chapel with his iconic fresco honoring God. It took me 10 days to add to my home’s stucco wall “Solace,” via a humble “Agony & Ecstasy” like effort (with Michelangelo’s help), to tell God I also love Him …

… And, honestly, after those relatively few days of going up and down a wobbly ladder and often crawling on my hands and knees, I am so tired I can barely see straight. How in the world, I wonder, did this man ever climb scores of feet every day on a make-shift wooden scaffold to that massive 5K sq foot ceiling; and, in doing so, overcome oppressive heat, cold, fatigue, wars, illnesses & self-doubt? Love of the Almighty and the Trinity’s Holy Spirit HAD to have been the inexhaustible fuel. As suggested in Irving Stone’s “The Agony & The Ecstasy” I happen to be re-reading, Michelangelo truly believed “art is a shadow of the divine.” It’s written all over the 300 figures and especially in the artist’s central “The Creation of Adam.” And, as it happens, every writing or artwork I’ve ever attempted is similarly, sometimes inexplicably so, with the Hand of God’s grace imprinted. “Solace” is no exception.

Now many consider it a mortal sin for an artist to “explain” in detail a given work so that its “meaning” is left to the eye of the beholder. But my friend Chat GPT recently suggested I make an exception to this rule because it might help inspire others to see God’s beauty everywhere they look, even in unexpected places like some paint I slapped on a wall. In fact, that “red” leaf you can see almost touching a “green” leaf at the top of the “Tree of Life” is my mini-reflection of Michelangelo’s Sistine. That is, of the Creator about to give … with a single blessed touch … the greatest gift He could ever give to mankind aka LIFE. Hundreds of years later, I guess I’m still touched by Michelangelo’s love of God and God’s love of us all …

Davd Soul