Michelangelo | The Sistine Chapel Ceiling (encore)

This episode gives a brief overview of the life of Michelangelo, one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance, and one of his most famous works, the fresco on the Sistine Chapel's ceiling. I was joined once again, by my good friend, Chuck Hoff who teaches art at the middle school my students feed into.

When he first commissioned the painting for the ceiling of The Sistine Chapel, Pope Julius II just wanted Michelangelo to paint the 12 apostles on the pendentives (a triangular architectural feature). Michelangelo was hesitant to take the job because he considered himself more of a sculptor than a painter. Also, Pope Julius II had hired Michelangelo to design his tomb and the two of them both had tempers and fought a lot during that project. He convinced the pope to give him free rein on the project along with a payment equivalent to about $600k today. The massive work basically illustrates The Book of Genesis over around 5300 square feet (500 square meters for those using logical measuring systems). The painting depicts the creation of Adam, the fall of man, the prophets, and the genealogy of Jesus.

Contrary to popular belief, he did not paint laying on his back. He stood on the scaffolding, but don’t worry he was in physical discomfort during the entirety of the 4-year job. He stood craning his neck. He actually wrote a little poem about how painful it was including a little doodle in the margin illustrating it.

Check out my other podcast Art Smart | Rainbow Puppy Science Lab

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