Murals Of The World

Raphael (Raffaello in italian) Sanzio was one of the most talented painters of the Italian Renaissance, which spread throughout Europe from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. Raphael was born in Urbino, itself a major arts mecca, and learned the craft he would become renown for through a series of apprenticeships. First to his father, who was himself employed as a painter at the ducal court of Montefeltro, and upon his death, as an apprentice to the Italian painter Perugino. 

He received his first commission as a painter independent of any apprenticeship ties in 1499, when he was but 16, to paint what he would title "The Banner Of The Holy Trinity", but the famous commission this exhibit shall explore is that of the "Stanze di Raffaello", or in english: "The Raphael Rooms" which Raphael began in 1508, and would work on laboriously until his death in 1520.

In 1508, Raphael was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the interiors of four rooms which would form the Pope's living quarters (successive Popes continued to live in 'Raphael's Rooms' until 1585). Today however, the rooms, which are on the third floor of the Pontifical Palace in Vatican City, form the public space of the papal apartments, while the Pope's actual living quarters are off limits to the public.

This is actually a blessing in that it allows more people to see this work of art which many would say rivals the work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel (ironically, the work of these two great masters occured during relatively the same period, as both pieces were commissioned by Pope Julius II).

On the subject of The Sistine Chapel, it is safe to say that these two masterpieces could be classified as either religious, as the subjects/themes of these works are clearly religious in nature and even the locations themselves (in a chapel, and the Pope's residence) support a religious classification, or historical, as both murals chronicle such an important era and truly revolutionized painting (at least that of frescoes) forever. However, for the purpose of this exhibit, and for the purpose of not omitting one these two spectacular murals, one has been placed into the religious section (The Sistine Chapel) and one into the historical section (Raphael's Rooms). 

While it would be impossible to examine all aspects of the Sistine Chapel, even seeing it in person is overwhelming, there is an interesting series of murals at play that lend support to one of the reasons for religious murals: to inspire nonbelivers to believe or at least respect a religion. There is no doubt that the Sistine Chapel, which is the most prominent chapel in the Apostolic Palace (the official residence of the Pope) is a masterpiece made of many masterpieces. It was the work of many artists and commissioned by a handful of Popes during their reign. The chapel derives its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored the building's capella in 1483 and invited painters Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio,Cosimo Rosselli, and Pietro Perugino to come decorate the walls with a series of religious frescoes. One of the walls depicts a series of scenes from Jesus' life here on Earth, while the wall parallel depicts a series of scenes from Moses'. This strange comparision and juxtaposition of Jesus to Moses could be coincidental, but according to Artbible.com, the comparision is meant to "visualize the continuity between the old and new covenant, Moses' laws and Jesus' teachings."  

The ceiling, which is by far the most well known feature of the Sistine Chapel began as a painting of a star spangled sky by Piero Matteo d'Amelia, but in 1508 Pope Julius II Della Rovere commissioned the famed sculptor Michelangelo to paint the twelve apostles and a few ornaments on the ceiling. Michelangelo's vision for the ceiling soon surpassed the commission and thus today we are left with the brillant ceiling seen on the preceding page which contains over 300 figures! Michelangelo was commissioned yet again in 1535 (he was in his sixties) to paint the altar wall with what would become known as 'The Last Judgement'. This world famous mural was comissioned by Pope Clement VII, and upon his death, Pope Paul III Farnese. 'The Last Judgement' was allegedly meant to instill piety and respect for God's powers in those that view this depiction of the second coming of Christ and the Apocalypse.

Another interesting facet of the Sistine Chapel was that Raphael (an artist covered in prior parts of this exhibit) was commissioned to create six large tapestries, which would be hung from the walls during ceremonies of particular importance. Of these tapestries, three showed events from the Life Of St. Peter and three showed events from the Life of St. Paul. Regrettably, these tapestries were looted in the Sack of Rome in 1527, and scattered around Europe. However, the majesty of these tapestries can still be viewed today because the Vatican managed to regain some tapestries and reproductions of those they could not. 

The following page of this exhibit shows three frescoes from both Jesus' wall and Moses' wall. 

Murals may well have been the one of the first works of art mankind ever created, or at least one of the few that endured long enough for future generations to discover.  Exactly how long murals, in some incarnation, have been a part of society is debatable, but most scholars maintain that 32,000 years ago, when prehistoric man created images of horses and lions on the walls of Chauvet cave in what is now France, they were creating what would become the oldest preserved piece of art in human history.

Since those days of murals made with crushed colorful minerals, murals have only increased in complexity. The image above left is one akin to what you might find in murals early prepubscent stage in the Upper Paleolithic times. While there exists a plethora of cave paintings similar to those found in France that an interested party could speak on for hours, the next developments of murals occured with the rise and fall of several ancient civilizations in Greece, Rome, Pompeii, and also wall adornments from both the Mayan and Aztec civilizations.

Murals saw a large upswing in the renaissance era with artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo being commisioned to paint large masterpieces in both public and private areas. More recently the United States exploded with murals during the period following the great depression in the 1930's and 1940's when Franklin D. Roosevelt, as part of his "New Deal" agenda established the Federal Art Project which lowered the unemployment rate by commissioning unemployed artists to paint over 1,000 murals in public government facilities across the nation. 

Shortnorth.com states that there exists a blessed dichotomy which continues to evolve in the world of murals where new ones are continually being commissioned and created while old ones are constantly being rediscovered and restored, thus ensuring that murals will live on indefinitely, so for this reason it is important that we, as cultured citizens in the cities these murals adorn, begin to understand them and the reason for their existance. 

  The purpose of this exhibit is not to offer a complete history of murals, or identify the ten most famous murals, or any idea akin to those. The purpose of this exhibit is to serve as a foot in the door for those new to the world of murals, to open the viewers minds and eyes to a style of art that they may see on a daily basis but not be familar with. The format of this exhibit is to offer cross sections of murals that fall into one of five classifications: Recreations of famous artwork, Political Murals, Environmental Murals, Historical Murals, and Religious Murals. This system of classification of murals is not a definitive one, and undoubtedly there exists other classifications which could be examined, but those five themes often found in murals are the ones upon which this exhibit is based.  

"Peace & War" - A Mural by: Gari Melchers

in 1896 at the Library Of Congress, Washington DC. USA.

While Wyland's work with the 'Whaling Wall' series is an obvious example of an environmental mural with a definitive purpose/cause: i.e. that of marine life preservation, and even his 'Earth; The Blue Planet' mural previously examined advocates the importance of the oceans, the cause behind a mural may not be so clearly defined as seen in this specific piece which appears locally here at Portland State University. While this piece, which for lack of information I have titled "PSU's Think Green" Mural, is not technically a mural (it's actually a fabric scrim attached to the underside of a sky bridge which connects both Portland State's Smith Memorial Student Union and Cramer Hall) it serves the same purpose as a mural in being a large piece of art in a public area which delivers a message.

On a campus known for "Being Green" (and for more reasons than the fact that that's one of the school colors), where there are more bicycle racks than parking spaces, where such sustainable alternatives as low flow fixtures on sinks, increased wall insulation provide a 51% and 53% efficiency increase for both electricity and natural gas usage respectively, and where ecoroofs have been installed on several roofs to reduce stormwater runnoff, which contributes to urban water pollution, this mural delivers a fitting message indeed. 

A video documenting the creation of the largest earth ever created (in any format: drawing, painting, sculpture, etc)

which was painted on the roof of the Long Beach Arena by marine adovocate Wyland on Earth Day in 2009.