Sistine Chapel – Michelangelo’s Ceiling Masterpiece

Michelangelos’ Sistine Chapel Ceiling is a Masterpiece:

Though named after Pope Sixtus IV, who commissioned the Chapel’s construction, the Sistine Chapel was given everlasting fame by Pope Julius II.  For, in 1508, it was he who commissioned Michelangelo to paint frescoes to cover the 10,000 square foot Sistine Chapel ceiling.

But on the way to the ceiling there are many delights for visitors to Rome and Vatican City, of which the Sistine Chapel forms a part. The chapel is nearby the Vatican Museum, itself worth a day or two. And, St. Peter’s Basilica is also not far away with another Michelangelo masterpiece, the Pieta not to mention the dome of the basilica.

Sistine Chapel

The chapel itself is on the small side, only 41m (135 ft) by 13.4m (44ft). But within these walls are works of art that would happily be acquired by any of the major art museums in the world. All have benefited from a large restoration project carried out from 1979 to 1999.

Many famous names are represented and many others that should be better known. There are several Botticelli works here, including the 1482 Life of Moses and The Punishment of Korah. Alongside and nearby are Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Rosselli, master artists of the period.

The Famous Sistine Chapel Ceiling

Of course, the main attraction – and properly so – remains the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. Formerly decorated only with a bland covering of painted stars, after four years of literally back breaking labor, Michelangelo transformed it into the glorious nine-panel magnum opus it is today.

Drawing from stories in the Old Testament, Michelangelo festooned the ceiling with Sibyls, prophets, Noah, obscure nude males, and – not least – the Creation of Adam with the touch of a finger.

Cleaned and restored in the 1990s, the ceiling shows the magnificent colours of one of the five greatest painters the world has ever seen. As Goethe described it:

Michelangelo’s Masterpieces

“Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving.”

Spending four years on a specially constructed scaffold, the paint nearly making him blind, the great artist had to devise and supervise a dozen innovations. Just as one example, an entirely new plaster – intonaco, still in use today – was created to resist mold and hold the paint properly.

Though the main sections were completed in 1512, Michelangelo returned to the work more than 20 years later to paint the Last Judgment, beginning in 1535 and finishing the work in 1541. It too is not to be missed. Nor can it be, really, since it covers the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel.

Among other fascinating aspects is the depiction of St. Bartholomew, a self-portrait that shows the figure having his skin flayed. Michelangelo was heavily criticized at the time, and by powerful figures, for his frequent depiction of nude figures. Though he won a temporary victory, the genitalia were later painted over.

Even those not usually interested in fine art come away from seeing the Sistine Chapel with a sense of awe. No visit to Rome is complete without a viewing of this site of so many masterpieces.

If you’re visiting the Sistine Chapel on your own, bear in mind that it is an extremely busy Rome attraction so allow time to purchase tickets and queuing to enter the Chapel.  Alternatively, to skip the queues, you can join one of the many Sistine Chapel tours that also cover the Vatican Museum.

Things to do in Rome

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