Sistine Chapel

Sistine Chapel

1508

6938

Cappella Sistina

Buonarroti, Michelangelo

Perugino

Botticelli, Sandro

Rosselli, Cosimo

Italian

visual works

Italy (nation)

Rome (inhabited place)

Renaissance

frescoes (paintings)

churches (buildings)

View of frescoes at the Sistine Chapel in Rome, Italy. "After the architectural structure was completed in 1481, Sixtus IV summoned various Florentine painters to work in the chapel, including Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Cosimo Rosselli, Signorelli and Umbrian artists such as Perugino and Pinturicchio ... They were asked to paint the side walls, divided horizontally in three sections and vertically spaced by elegant pilasters. Damask-like draperies with the pope’s coat of arms were frescoed on the lower part of the walls ... The middle section, the most important area, was painted with Biblical scenes from the lives of Moses and Christ, both seen as liberators of humanity ... Finally, golden stars on a blue background were painted on the chapel ceiling by Pier Matteo d’Amelia, as can be seen in a famous 16th century drawing now in the Uffizi ... After some initial contention, Michelangelo agreed to fresco the vault. It took four years of hard work to complete the painting (from 1508 to 1512), and Michelangelo’s theme was the history of mankind before the coming of Christ.
Later on, between 1536 and 1541, Michelangelo also painted the “Last Judgement”, commissioned by Paul III Farnese (1534-1549), who confirmed the commission made by his predecessor, Clement VII (1523-1534). The theme represented is mankind’s inevitable Fate and God as the absolute judge of man’s destiny,"--Vatican website.

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