When I was in Rome a few years ago two things were at the top of my “must see” list. One was the Galleria Borghese and its wonderful collection (see my posts on Titian and Bernini), the other was the Vatican Museum and, in particular, the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s stunning frescos.

Following the advice of a guidebook we arrived at the Vatican early and worked through the museum quickly, not pausing to linger over the other works (not easy to do), and got to the chapel before it filled up with its usual shoulder to shoulder carpet of bent neck tourists. By being among the first to arrive in the chapel we were able to walk around the space freely, viewing perhaps the most astonishingly adorned interior space in the world at our leisure.

(We then got back in line and went through the museum again, a process with which my companions were less than pleased. The museum is arranged in a kind of single file, one way march through the rooms, almost like a Disney attraction, and is not conducive to wandering freely.)

Even viewing the Sistine Chapel without the crowds has its limitations, though; the bent-neck viewing angle is only comfortable for a short time, and management doesn’t encourage you to bring in chaise lounges and binoculars.

For the next best thing to that experience, you can visit the Vatican’s “Virtual Visit of the Sistine Chapel“, a VR interactive that drops you into the middle of the chapel (empty of visitors), and allows you to pan around, and of course up, thorugh the entire space, and zoom in on any section.

While this may not be the best way to view individual elements (for that, visit the Web Gallery of Art, and their section on the ceiling frescoes), it’s a fascinating way to get a feeling for the space and the relative size of the images on the ceiling and walls.

As I did when actually there, I focused on the prophets and sibyls, which I think are some of the most beautiful of Michelangelo’s painted figures; in particular the Libyan Sibyl, above, for which his preparatory drawings are absolutely beautiful, and among my favorites in the history of art.

When viewing the panorama (which is in Flash), you may find it helpful to try the two different modes of motion provided by the “Change Mouse Mode” Button (the “M” next to the plus and minus at lower left).

Unfortunately, I found the rest of the Sistine Chapel section of the Vatican Museum’s online collections less rewarding, and difficult to navigate (despite the hand of God pointing to the top level navigation elements).

[Via Jason Kottke]

Michele Harvey is a painter who spends at least part of her time in a studio in upstate New York.

Her paintings of the area are large in scale, rich in detail and texture and often have an air of quiet mystery. Trunks or crowns of trees, sharply focused in the foreground, frequently are set against backgrounds in which more distant parts of the landscape gradually dissolve into mist or fog, inviting the viewer to step forward into the image in search of more visual treasures to be revealed.

In some ways the two images I’ve chosen to show here are atypical, but I happened to find them particularly compelling.

Harvey also does severely horizontal landscapes with broader views, as well as a series of triptychs. The latter sometimes are of three directly related images, but often have a central image flanked by two images closely related to each other, but different in composition and tone from the central image. In those there is still a relationship between the center and side images, perhaps suggesting that they are different views from the same spot, or just scenes from the same area on the same day.

The fact that they prompt questions is part of the appeal of Harvey’s paintings. Even in those in which the focus is sharp and the color brighter, there are suggestions of questions to be answered and mysteries to be explored, if only one could step into the painting and walk down the offered path.

Harvey’s work is currently on exhibit in the area where may of her pieces are set, near Cooperstown, New York.

The Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown is showing Watermark: Michelle Harvey & Glimmerglass from now until December 31, 2010.

Glimmerglass is a state park in the area, and is on the banks of Ostego Lake, which was the “Glimmerglass” in James Fenimore Cooper’s series of novels, Leatherstocking Tales.