Michelangelo Buonorroti did not consider himself to be a painter. He studied the human form in order to create three dimensional works of art as sculpture. His chosen method of communication was through the art of carving stone. But Michelangelo also lived during one of the most creative times in European Art History and when one lives in such times, and depends on commissions from patrons of the arts to survive, an artist has to go where he is demanded to go. Especially when that patron is a Pope.

Gaining a commission from Pope Julius II is how Michelangelo ended up leaving Florence and going to Rome, to work on a project for which he had absolutely no interest. Michelangelo created the stunning paintings in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel because it was demanded of him by the most powerful man within the reach of the Roman Catholic Church. He was commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1505 to repaint the ceiling of the chapel, but because the Pope went into a focused and strategic campaign to win lands from Venice at that time, Michelangelo’s work on the ceiling was not begun until 1508. Once started he spent the next four years with his days high above the floor on a scaffold, straining his neck and eyes, to paint the ceiling with nine stories from the book of Genesis, depictions of seven Prophets from the Old Testament, five Sibyls, as well as the four corners and eight triangular areas around the room that were also painted.

The paintings on the ceiling, as almost all wall paintings of the time, were done in fresco, a method of painting into fresh wet plaster. To paint the ceiling in this method he had to design and build his own scaffolding. Rather than build the scaffold from the floor up, the scaffold was a wooden platform suspended from brackets along the chapel walls at the height of the windows. This allowed him just enough room to stand and paint the works on the ceiling. Often he worked standing with his head thrown back. Consider working in this way, in this environment, which was often cold and damp or extremely hot, depending on the season, and creating not only the beautiful figures that he painted, but putting them in the correct perspective so that when viewed from the floor, they looked as if they were alive.

Michelangelo is responsible for all of the work done on the ceiling. He drew the plans and the cartoons and rarely let an assistant help him. He complained bitterly over his working conditions and wrote of his struggle to get payment out of a Pope that was rushing him to finish the job.

I myself am quite concerned, for this Pope has not given me a single grosso for a whole year, and I am not asking for any, for my work is not progressing in such a way as to make me think that I deserve anything. This is due to the difficulty of the work, and also to the fact that it is not my profession. — Michelangelo, I, Michelangelo, Sculptor

It is probably the Creation fresco in the center of the ceiling that is the most famous and most reproduced image. This is the image of Adam and God reaching out to touch each other. There are over 300 figures painted on over 5,000 square feet of surface.

The work on the chapel was completed between 1508 and October 31, 1512.

I finished painting the Chapel. The Pope is very satisfied with it. — Michelangelo, I, Michelangelo, Sculptor

Michelangelo also painted The Last Judgement over the altar between 1535 and 1541 which was commissioned by Pope Paul III.

Top Painting: The Creation of Adam, c.1510 (detail) by Michelangelo Buonarroti

Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving. - Johann Wolfgang Goethe in 1787 in Rome

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Musei Vaticani e Cappella Sistina/Sistine Chapel
Viale Vaticano – 00165
Visiting Hours: Summer Hours: April 1 til October 31: 8:45 – 16:45; Winter Hours: November 1 til March 31: 8:45 – 13:45
Closed: all Sundays and holidays, except for the last Sunday of the month when the Musei are open with free admission.
Tickets: Full price: € 15,00 (this includes the Vatican Museums); Reduced: € 8,00

Edited April 3, 2010.