Phillipps, Evelyn March: The frescoes in the Sixtine chapel (London: John Murray, 1901)

120

THE ROOF

Ezekiel follows, full of fiery visions and
parable, and Joel musing over the blessed
words of promise.
Joel iii. 16. . . . The Lord will be the hope of his
people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
17. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God
dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall
Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass
through her any more. . . .
21. Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from
generation to generation.
These great creations personify the faith
and hope of the human race through all
those centuries of doubt and darkness, and
the whole is a picture of the human intellect
at work, struggling against the darkness, in
all the aspects of thought; study, medita-
tion, research, intuition, discouragement,
ecstasy, that cycle of emotions which has
marked every stretching of great minds
towards the light, and which must have
spoken strongly to a mind like Michel
Angelo’s.
It is striking that while these figures are
drawn with such a sweep of design, and such
large lines, the painting is fine and soft,