Fotoreproductie van het fresco De Sibile van Cumae door Michelangelo in de Sixtijnse kapel 1851 - 1900

This is a photographic reproduction of Michelangelo's fresco of the Cumaean Sibyl in the Sistine Chapel. While we don't know who made this particular photograph, it's worth considering the processes involved in its making, and the context in which the original fresco was made. Michelangelo painted the Sibyl directly onto fresh lime plaster, a technique known as fresco. This required incredible skill and speed, as the artist had to complete each section before the plaster dried. The vibrant colors were achieved using pigments mixed with water, which chemically bonded with the plaster as it cured. Photography, of course, offers a different kind of immediacy. The camera captures the image almost instantaneously. In its time, photography democratized art by offering more access. Looking at this image, we can appreciate the materiality of both the fresco and the photograph. The fresco is embedded in the architecture of the Vatican, while the photograph is a portable document, that brings the epic scale of the Sistine Chapel into the realm of mass media.