A BIT IN DEEP: COSIMO ROSSELLI

The great artists who painted the walls of the Sistine Chapel to give birth to an iconography harmonious agreed in such a way that the size and colors of individual frescoes were homogeneous.

Vasari in his Lives wrote that Cosimo Rosselli used for its frescoes vibrant ultramarine colors and gold backgrounds. Also according to Vasari, out of ignorance, to Pope Sixtus IV, the coloring was so pleased to compel the other painters to align.

But as elsewhere we said our good Vasari often wrote gossip.

Indeed it is plausible that, as the Sistine Chapel was lit by candles, the color choice has been determined by its the particular brightness.

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