Michelangelo The Sistine Chapel Ceiling

The walls of the chapel had already received decoration from some of the greatest of renaissance artists but in four years of toil michelangelo would outshine them all with his ambition and technical skill producing one of the defining works of western art of any century.

Michelangelo the sistine chapel ceiling. The chapel was built in 1479 under the direction of pope sixtus iv who gave it his name sistine derives from sixtus. Michelangelo sistine chapel ceiling 1508 1512 fresco. Michelangelo s sistine chapel ceiling is one of the most influential artworks of all time and a foundational work of renaissance art.

The first section still contains sharp discrepancies in scale between the large figures outside the central scenes and the smaller figures that crowd within them. Volta della cappella sistina painted by michelangelo between 1508 and 1512 is a cornerstone work of high renaissance art the ceiling is that of the sistine chapel the large papal chapel built within the vatican between 1477 and 1480 by pope sixtus iv for whom the chapel is named it was painted at the commission of pope julius ii. The sistine chapel ceiling painted by michelangelo between 1508 and 1512 is one of the most renowned artworks of the high renaissance.

In 1508 ce the pope commissioned the celebrated florentine sculptor and painter michelangelo 1475 1564 ce to paint scenes on the ceiling of the vatican s sistine chapel. Central to the ceiling decoration are nine scenes from the book of genesis of which the creation of adam is the best known the hands of god and adam being reproduced in countless imitations. He first thought that he would only be working on the pope s tomb but was also given the job of painting figures of the twelve apostles against a starry sky on the sistine chapel ceiling.

The ceiling of the sistine chapel the sistine chapel had great symbolic meaning for the papacy as the chief consecrated space in the vatican used for great ceremonies such as electing and inaugurating new popes. Antoine taveneaux via wikimedia commons. What the sistine chapel is most well known for however is its ceiling.

When michelangelo actually started painting the sistine chapel ceiling at the east end probably in the early months of 1509 the implications of the structure had not been entirely established in his mind. The sistine chapel ceiling in 1508 michelangelo was summoned to rome by pope julius ii. The sistine chapel is one of the most famous painted interior spaces in the world and virtually all of this fame comes from the breathtaking painting of its ceiling from about 1508 1512.

Painted directly on the ceiling of the sistine chapel in the vatican the masterpiece depicts key scenes from the book of genesis. The sistine chapel ceiling italian.