Sistine Chapel Essay

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,.kMichelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born on March 6, 1475 and dies on February 18, 1564. He is truly the greatest italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet and engineer to have ever lived. Michelangelo never liked to consider himself a painter, he preferred to be revered for his work as an architect in the later years of his life. The Sistine Chapel is known worldwide and is the most famous chapel in the official residence of the Pope in Vatican city. Michelangelo’s representation of the Genesis covers twelve thousand square feet and took him four years to paint the amazing frescos. The chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV. Today the chapel is the site of the papal conclave. The papal conclave is the intensive process in which a new pope is selected by the college of cardinals of the holy Roman church. The new pope is decided by secret ballot no more than fifteen days after the death of the pope. Michelangelo’s representation of the Genesis in the Sistine Chapel has nine scenes of the Book of Genesis. The Book of Genesis is the first book in the Bible. Five out of the nine scenes depicted are creation stories. These scenes were all painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512. The smaller scenes are the logical consequences of the larger scenes. It is remarkable how much Michelangelo’s talent shines through but even more remarkable is that the Pope gave him freedom to depict the Genesis stories with free reign of his imagination paired with his knowledge of the Bible and of contemporary culture. Over the four year period he worked mostly in solitude, he was only thirty three years old. In each of the scenes depicted there are very impressive facial expressions. The walls of the Sistine Chapel are actually flat! The Sistine Chapel was the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508 to

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