Michelangelo Buonarroti Research Paper

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was a famous sculptor, painter and architect whose work in the Sistine Chapel is widely known to be one of the greatest pieces of fresco work in the Italian Renaissance. Every year millions of people travel to Vatican City to see his impressive artwork. Not only is the Sistine Chapel an attraction for art lovers, but for Christians the Sistine Chapel is considered to be one of the holiest chapels. The Sistine Chapel was built between 1475 and 1483 and named after Pope Sixtus IV. In 1508, Pope Julius II requested that Michelangelo repaint the ceiling. The ceiling originally had a blue sky with golden stars. Michelangelo spent four years creating these paintings which end up becoming one of the world's most artistic masterpieces. The paintings depict nine stories from the Christian Bible's Book of Genesis. These stories include the separation of light and darkness, the creation of the heavenly bodies, the separation of land and water, the creation of Adam, the creation of Eve, the fall of man and the expulsion from paradise, the sacrifice of Noah, the flood, and the drunkenness of Noah. Their realistic and extremely …show more content…
The Vatican Museum webpage says that “Michelangelo placed nine Central stories illustrating episodes of the Genesis within a powerful painted architecture, with at their sides figures of Nudes, holding medallions with texts taken from the Book of Kings. At the base of the architectural structure twelve Prophets and Sibyls seated on monumental thrones are countered lower down by Christ's forefathers, portrayed in the Spandrels and in the Lunettes (north wall, south wall, entrance wall). Finally, in the four corner Pendentives, the artist illustrated some episodes of the miraculous salvation of the people of Israel.” This source clearly helps to show the layout of the Sistine Chapel