
Peter's, Julius II conceived a programme to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In 1506, the same year the foundation stone was laid for the new St. Ĭomparison between Michelangelo's sketch of the Sistine ceiling's architectural outline (Archivio Buonarroti, XIII, 175v) and a view from below of the ceiling. On 17 April 1506, Michelangelo left Rome in secret for Florence, remaining there until the Florentine government pressed him to return to the pope. By this time, Michelangelo was established as an artist both he and Julius II had hot tempers and soon argued. The pope summoned Michelangelo to Rome in early 1505 and commissioned him to design his tomb, forcing the artist to leave Florence with his planned Battle of Cascina painting unfinished. Peter's Basilica would distinguish it as the most potent symbol of the source of papal power he ultimately demolished and replaced the original basilica with a grander one intended to house his own tomb. He invested in symbolism to display his temporal power, such as his procession, in which he (in the Classical manner) rode a chariot through a triumphal arch after one of his many military victories. Julius II was a "warrior pope" who in his papacy undertook an aggressive campaign for political control to unite and empower Italy under the leadership of the Catholic Church.
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For six months in 1504, a diagonal crack in the chapel's vault had made the chapel unusable, and Pope Julius II (Giuliano della Rovere) had the damaged painting removed by Piero Roselli, a friend of Michelangelo. The original ceiling painting was by Pier Matteo d'Amelia, and had depicted stars over a blue background like the ceiling of the Arena Chapel decorated by Giotto at Padua. The ceiling as it may have looked before Michelangelo painted it The upper level of the walls contains the windows, between which are painted pairs of illusionistic niches with representations of the first 32 popes. It was carried out by some of the most renowned Renaissance painters: Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Luca Signorelli, and Cosimo Rosselli. The middle level contains a complex scheme of frescoes illustrating the Life of Christ on the right side and the Life of Moses on the left side. Following this, Raphael designed a set of tapestries (1515–1516) to cover the lowest of three levels the surviving tapestries are still hung on special occasions.

The walls of the Sistine Chapel had been decorated 20 years before Michelangelo's work on the ceiling.


The Sistine Chapel is the large papal chapel built within the Vatican between 14 by Pope Sixtus IV, for whom the chapel is named. The Sistine Chapel ceiling ( Italian: Soffitto della Cappella Sistina), painted in fresco by Michelangelo between 15, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art.
