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Michelangelo (1475-1564) Home Michelangelo l Early Life in Florence l First Roman Sojourn l First Return to Florence The Sistine Chapel Ceiling l The Tomb of Julius II l The Laurentian Library l The Medici Tombs The Last Judgment l The Campidoglio l Dome of St. Peter's Basilica Michelangelo's Achievements The Last Judgment In Rome, in 1536, Michelangelo was at work on the Last Judgment for the alter wall of the Sistine Chapel, which he finished in 1541. The largest fresco of the Renaissance, it depicts Judgment Day. Christ, with a clap of thunder, puts into motion the inevitable separation, with the saved ascending on the left side of the painting and the damned descending on the right into a Dantesque hell. As was his custom, Michelangelo portrayed all the figures nude, but prudish draperies were added by another artist (who was dubbed the “breeches-maker”) a decade later, as the cultural climate became more conservative. Michelangelo painted his own image in the flayed skin of St. Bartholomew. Although he was also given another painting commission, the decoration of the Pauline Chapel in the 1540s, his main energies were directed toward architecture during this phase of his life. The Fall from Grace, 1508-12, from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. click on image to enlarge

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