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the vaulted ceiling.
In 1503, Pope Julius II
(1503-1513) – nephew of
Sixtus IV – wanted to renew
the decoration of the chapel, aiming at rendering it
a universal symbol of Christendom and at making
the Vatican eternally relevant again, through beauty and grandeur. Julius II –
also known as “the terrible
pope” – saw the chapel
as a medium to teach the
Bible to the analphabet
faithful (the so called “Biblia Pauperum” – Bible for
the poor), a powerful means of propaganda, which
worked effectively with
Roman emperors. He sou-
ght to bring Rome back to
its ancient splendor and
grandeur, surpassing the
work of the previous popes. To fulfill the task, Julius II could not but choose Italy’s most renowned
and talented artist of the
time: Michelangelo Buonarroti, appointing him to
paint the whole surface of
the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
A sculptor rather than a
painter,
Michelangelo
had just been committed
another grandiose project
by Julius II himself: the
construction of the pope's majestic tomb. The
artist had thus to abandon such project, and was
then brought to Rome
for this new commission,
which did not make him
very happy. However, Michelangelo, who had no
choice but to accept the
commission, took it as a
challenge.
The initial project was not
the beautiful spectacle we
confront with while entering the Chapel. Julius II
wanted twelve Apostles
and geometrical motifs to
be painted. Michelangelo
convinced him to change his mind, proposing a
more grandiose and complex project: a theatrical
corpus of stories from the
Old Testament. He ended
Michelangelo Buonarroti, detail from the Sistine Chapel vaulted ceiling showing the
Creation of Adam, 1508-1512
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