The document provides background information about Michelangelo and his most famous works, focusing on his paintings in the Sistine Chapel ceiling from 1508 to 1512. It summarizes that Michelangelo was primarily a sculptor who was commissioned by the Pope to paint the chapel ceiling, where he depicted stories from Genesis including the Creation, Adam and Eve, and the flood of Noah across 12 main painted sections.

1. ART IN THE
SISTINE CHAPEL

2. A visit to The Sistine Chapel is a “must” for every visitor to Rome, but it
can be a sensory overload.
The Chapel is often crowded with many tourists. As far as I know, taking
pictures is prohibited.
The ushers might make you feel like you must leave quickly so that other
crowds may have their turn to visit the chapel.
The purpose of this presentation is to give a brief overview, so that one
can know what to expect when they enter the chapel, and perhaps more
fully appreciate and enjoy the artwork found in it.
It is more like an art gallery than a chapel!
I hope you enjoy this presentation.

3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT
THE SISTINE CHAPEL
AND ITS MOST INFLUENTIAL ARTIST,
MICHELANGELO

4. Rome, Italy. The Vatican. At centre, the Dome of St Peter's Basilica. The Papal
Gardens in the foreground.

5. An aerial view of St. Peter’s Basilica and Vatican
Square.

6. The Sistine Chapel. When the Pope dies, this is the room that the Cardinals gather in to elect the
new Pope. It is also like an art gallery!

7. Michelangelo Buonarotti lived from 1475 to 1564. A passionate artist. He is the artist who
painted more panels in The Sistine Chapel than any other artist.

8. Michelangelo was primarily a sculptor. He carved this statue of 'Drunken Bacchus' when he was
only 21 years old.

9. Drunken Bacchus
with a bloated belly
and unfocussed
eyes.

10. LA PIETA
“La Pieta” means pity,
compassion, or sorry. It
is the sorry of Mary.
This was carved when
Michelangelo was just
24 years old. This
statue is in St. Peter's
Basilica. It is one of 4
“La Pieta” statues that
Michelangelo carved.

11. Michelangelo did not normally
sign his work with his name.
However, he overheard someone
attribute this carving to another
artist, so he then signed his name
on the sash of the Madonna.
On Pentecost Sunday in 1972, a
madman attacked the statue with
a hammer and gave it 15 blows.
The statue was restored by
carving experts and was unveiled
about a year later.

12. DAVID
David (from the ‘David
and Goliath’ story) was
carved as a symbol of
Florence when
Michelangelo was 29. It
is nicknamed “The
Giant”. Michelangelo
studied the human
body very closely so
that he could carve it
precisely. This statue is
in The Gallery of the
Academy in Florence.

13. MOSES
Moses was
carved when
Michelangelo
was 40, for Pope
Julius II's tomb.

14. THE CEILING OF THE SISTINE
CHAPEL
PAINTED BY MICHELANGELO FROM 1508 TO 1512

15. MIchelangelo was not a painter. He did not want to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Some reports say the Pope said he could choose to
either paint the ceiling or go to prison. Because Michelangelo was such a famous artist, the Pope wanted him to paint the ceiling.

16. A painting of
Michelangelo
painting the ceiling
of the Sistine
Chapel in Rome,
with Pope Julius II
watching from far
below. He painted
like this from 1508
to 1512. (Roughly
age 33 to 37.)

18. Michelangelo’s ceiling panels tell stories from the bible.

20. THE FIRST 3
PANELS
(CREATION)

21. The Separation of Light and
Darkness
Genesis:
3 And God said, Let there
be light: and there was
light.
4 And God saw the light,
that it was good: and God
divided the light from the
darkness.
5 And God called the light
Day, and the darkness he
called Night. And the
evening and the morning
were the first day.

22. Close up of God's neck and beard and nose.

23. Some people
believe God’s
neck and face
are painted like
a brain.

24. God creates the sun and planets. “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night:
he made the stars also. In this picture you can see the sun, and also the grey moon to the right.”

25. Interesting that
Michelangelo shows
God's bare bottom!
Some people say that
this is right over where
the new Pope is
crowned, and he did
this bare bum as a
protest to Pope Julius II
whom he painted this
ceiling for.

26. Creation of the Creatures of
the Sea:
“And God said, Let the
waters bring forth
abundantly the moving
creature that hath life.”
It is not obvious but there is
water in this picture and
there are sea creatures
being created beneath the
surface.

27. “And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters
brought forth abundantly.”

28. THE MIDDLE 3
PANELS
(ADAM AND EVE)

29. The Creation of Adam. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

30. Genesis 27
“So God created
man in his own
image.”

31. Some people think
God is inside of a
human brain in
this picture.

32. The Creation of Eve
“21 And the LORD God caused a
deep sleep to fall upon Adam,
and he slept: and he took one of
his ribs, and closed up the flesh
instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD
God had taken from man, made
he a woman, and brought her
unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now
bone of my bones, and flesh of
my flesh: she shall be called
Woman, because she was taken
out of Man.”

33. “27 So God created man in
his own image, in the
image of God created he
him; male and female
created he them.”
In the time of
Michelangelo, the Old
Testament was thought to
have stories which parallel
the New Testament. Adam
was a parallel to
Jesus. Some people think
Adam's sleeping body here
is like Jesus' dead body
waiting for the tomb.

34. “3 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.” The devil is the
serpent winding its body up the tree, and at the top takes the shape of a woman. Again thinking about parallels between Old Testament
and New Testament, some people feel that the tree and arms of the devil and angel in red are like the cross that Jesus will die upon.

35. THE LAST 3 PANELS
(NOAH)
UNLIKE THE FIRST 6 PANELS, THESE PANELS ARE OUT OF
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

36. Noah’s Sacrifice After the
Flood: Then Noah built an
altar to the LORD and,
taking some of all the clean
animals and clean birds, he
sacrificed burnt offerings on
it.

37. Genesis 8:20; Noah's
sacrifice after the
flood.
You can see the fire
on the altar, which
was used for the
burnt offerings to
God. At bottom
right, they are slicing
the throat of the
sheep.

38. 7 The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and
your whole family, because I have found you righteous in
this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of
clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every
kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also
seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep
their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days
from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and
forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every
living creature I have made.”

40. The Great Flood – detail.

41. The Great Flood – detail.

42. The Drunkeness of Noah
“20 Noah, a man of the
soil, proceeded to plant a
vineyard.
21 When he drank some
of its wine, he became
drunk and lay uncovered
inside his tent.
22 Ham, the father of
Canaan, saw his father
naked and told his two
brothers outside.
23 But Shem and Japheth
took a garment and laid it
across their shoulders;
then they walked in
backward and covered
their father's naked body.
Their faces were turned
the other way so that they
would not see their father
naked.”

43. THE WALL BEHIND THE ALTAR:
THE LAST JUDGEMENT
(PAINTED BY MICHELANGELO)

44. Michelangelo painted this wall from
about the age of 60 to 65. There is a lot
of activity in the picture.
The people at bottom left are being
awoken from being dead so that they can
be judged.
The people at the bottom right are being
sent to hell. Charon is just behind the
cross. He operates the boat that takes
dead souls across the river to hell.
The people on the top left are going to
heaven. Some are pulled up by the angels
using their rosaries.
The top 2 arches show "The Instruments
of His Passion" - the cross Jesus was
crucified on and the pillar he was tied to
as he was scourged.

45. Michelangelo’s original
paintings were mostly nude.

46. But some people
thought it was a
little too much. So
other artists later
covered the
private areas with
paintings of cloths.

47. 1 The Archangel Gabriel
2 Pharoah’s daughter who found Moses; or Eve; or Sarah
3 and 4 Niobe and a daughter [Niobe is a queen from mythology whose many children were killed by Apollo and
Artemis; see this ancient statue]; or Eve and a daughter (the personification of maternity); or the merciful Church and a
believer
5 Abel, who was murdered by his brother Cain; or Eve
6 Abraham; or St. Bernard; or Pope Julius II
7 St. John the Baptist; or Adam
8 Rachel; or Dante’s Beatrice
9 Noah; or Enoch; or Pope Paul III
10 St. Andrew; or John the Baptist; or Dimas [St. Dimas was the Good Thief who was crucified with Jesus]
11 St. Martha; or St. Anne; or Vittoria Colonna, Michelangelo’s great friend
12 St. Lawrence
13 *The Virgin Mary
14 *Christ the Judge
15 Solomon’s wife; or Dante
16 Francesco Amadori (the Urbino); or Tommaso de Cavalieri, Michelangelo’s friend
17 St. Bartholomew with the face of Pietro Aretino, the poet who criticized the painting as indecent
17a The skin of St. Bartholomew with the face of Michelangelo
18 St. Paul
19 St. Peter
20 St. Mark; or Pope Clement VII
21 St. Longinus, the soldier who lanced Christ on the Cross
22 Simon Zelote
23 St. Philip; or Dimas
24 Job; or Adam; or Abraham
25 Job’s wife; or Eve; or Pope Hadrian VI
26 St. Blaise
27 St. Catherine of Alexandria
28 St. Sebastian with the arrows of his martrydom
29 Dimas; or St. Francis of Assisi; St. Andrew; Simon the Cyrenian; the encarnation of Justice; the symbol of Man with
his trials and tribulations
30 Moses; or Adam
31, 32, 33 One of the blessed; or an angel raising two black men
34 The Archangel Michael with the Book of the Chosen Ones
35 A proud man; or a swindler
36 A proud man; or one condemned for Despair (as opposed to theological Hope)
37 A devil
38 A proud man or a lazy (slothful) man
39 and 40 Pablo and Francesca
41 A miser; or the simoniac Pope Nicholas III
42 An irate or a proud man
43 A lustful man caught and thrown down to hell by his genitals
44 Michelangelo
45 Michelangelo; or Pope Julius II; or Virgil; or St. Stephen; or Plato (or wisdom); or a charitable monk; or an angel; or
Martin Luther
46 Dante
47 Savonarola
48 Charon [the boatman of mythology who ferries souls to the Underworld]; or Satan with the features of the
Condestable of Bourbon
49 Cesar Borgia
50 Minos [the Judge at the gates to the Underworld] with the face of Biagio da Cesena
51 and 52 Count Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggeri

48. Jesus and Mary at centre.
Michelangelo's The Last
Judgment shows St
Bartholomew holding the
knife of his martyrdom
and his flayed skin. The
face of the skin is
recognizable as
Michelangelo's.
Bartholomew was one of
the 12 Apostles. In
Christian tradition he is
known as the
unfortunate saint who
was skinned alive.

49. Michelangelo's Jesus
has a thick body.

50. At centre bottom
the angels blow
the horns loudly
to wake the dead
from their sleep.
To the right of
Jesus is St. Peter
with the white
beard; he holds a
key to heaven.

51. SOUTHERN WALL: STORIES OF
MOSES
(PAINTED BY VARIOUS ARTISTS)

52. Moses
Leaving
Egypt

53. The Trials
of Moses

54. The
Crossing
of the Red
Sea

55. Descent
from
Mount
Sinai

56. Punish-
ment of
the Rebels

57. Testament
and Death
of Moses

58. NORTHERN WALL: STORIES OF
JESUS
(PAINTED BY VARIOUS ARTISTS)

59. Baptism
of Christ

60. Tempta-
tion of
Christ

61. Calling of
The
Apostles

62. Sermon
on the
Mount

63. Delivery
of the
Keys

64. The Last
Supper

65. EASTERN WALL

66. Disputation
over
Moses’
Body

67. The
Resurr-
ection of
Christ

68. THE END