Five hundred years ago Michelangelo began work on a painting that became one of the most famous pieces of art in the world--the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Every year millions of people come to see the largest fresco painting on earth in the holiest of Christianity's chapels; yet there is not one single Christian image in this vast, magnificent artwork. This book tells how Michelangelo embedded messages of brotherhood, tolerance, and freethinking in his...

You cannot stand underneath the masterwork that is the Sistine Chapel without considering the genius and painstaking work that went into its creation. Michelangelo Buonarroti never wanted to paint the Sistine Chapel, though. Appointed by the temperamental Julius II, Michelangelo believed the suspiciously large-scale project to be a plot for failure conspired by his rivals and the "Warrior Pope." After all, Michelangelo was not a painter-he was a sculptor....

"An scholarly exposition of the symbolism of the renowned fresco cycle, illustrating both Michelangelo's frescoes and those of the quattrocento"--Provided by publisher.

99-0731

Photographs and text capture the beauty of the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel after a nine year restoration project.

Discusses the history of the Sistine Chapel, including the frescoes, Michelangelo's influence, the Last Judgment, and modern day restoration.