and take up the painting of twelve apostles
on the ceiling and walls of the Sistine
Chapel. The idea for this project was re-
layed to the pope by Michelangelo’s own
rivals, who believed him an inferior
painter, incapable of carrying out the task,
and likely to run into trouble with the
pope and lose his commission for the pa-
pal tomb. In the meantime, the tomb
project was proving so costly to Julius II
that he ordered it stopped.
At first reluctant to undertake the Sis-
tine Chapel ceiling, Michelangelo finally
accepted the commission and began work
in 1508. He introduced a new concept in
fresco painting by rendering complete dra-
matic scenes on an overhead space, some-
thing no other artist had ever attempted.
By the time he completed the ceiling, in
1512, he had rendered nine scenes from
the Bible’s book of Genesis, including the
creation of man, the temptation of Adam
and Eve, and the biblical flood, with more
than four hundred larger-than-life figures,
all while lying on his back on top of a
wooden scaffold. The Sistine Chapel ceil-
ing was a magnificent achievement that
left the artist emotionally drained and
physically weakened. He then completed
the tomb for Julius II that included the
dour figure of Moses, a sculpture created
from a lump of marble so poorly propor-
tioned and misshapen that several artists
had already refused to work with it. Also
as part of this tomb were to be two im-
portant sculptures,Bound SlaveandDying
Slave, which he left unfinished at the death
of the pope in 1513.
After completing the Sistine Chapel
ceiling, Michelangelo returned to Florence.
He took on architectural projects, includ-
ing the design of the Laurentian Library.
In 1526 the Medici were again driven out
of Florence, while Pope Clement VII or-
dered German mercenaries to surround
the city and prepare for an assault. The
city of Florence asked Michelangelo to de-
sign a series of fortifications. He joined
the army defending Florence but then fled
the city for Venice when it appeared the
mercenaries would actually invade. The
artist was exiled for this act but later was
allowed to return.
In 1519 the artist was commissioned
to design two tombs for Lorenzo and
Giuliano de’ Medici, to be built in the sac-
risty of Florence’s San Lorenzo Church.
The tombs were designed with symbolic
representations of dawn, dusk, day, and
night. The figures are shown crying in grief
at the passage of time and the inevitability
of death. The artist left them incomplete
when he returned to Rome in 1534. Pope
Clement VII commissioned him to paint
The Last Judgmentfresco in the Sistine
Chapel. A huge painting, the largest fresco
painting of its time,The Last Judgment
was completed in 1541. The painting
caused a scandal because of its depiction
of nude figures on the wall of a sacred
chapel, and for a time after its completion
the figures were covered with cloth drap-
ery for the sake of modesty.
In the meantime, Michelangelo had
met Vittoria Colonna, a poet dedicated to
the reform of the church. The two became
close friends, a relationship that inspired
the artist to write fine lyric poetry, son-
nets, and madrigals in her honor. At this
time he was commissioned to design
buildings on the Campidoglio, the ancient
Capitoline Hill of Rome. The construction
of the buildings was not begun until the
late 1550s and not completed for another
century. The bronze equestrian statue of
Marcus Aurelius was placed in the center
of the square.
In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed
chief architect of Saint Peter’s Basilica. Do-
nato Bramante, who had died in 1514, hadMichelangelo Buonarroti