built by Sixtus IV. in 1473. It is celebrated for its paintings in
fresco by Michael Angelo; the roof alone occupied twenty months in the
painting.
THE ROOF.--On the flat part are nine compartments illustrative of--(1)
The Separation of Light from Darkness; (2) Creation of the Sun and
Moon; (3) Land and Sea; (4) Adam; (5) Eve; (6) the Fall and Expulsion
(the figure of Eve is considered to be the most perfect painting of
the female form in existence); (7) the Sacrifice of Noah; (8) the
Deluge; (9) Noah inebriated. These are bordered by sitting figures of
prophets and sibyls: _over the altar_, Jonah; _on the left_, Joel, the
Sibyl Erithræa, Ezekiel, the Sibyl Persica, Jeremiah and Zechariah;
_on the right_, the Sibyl Lybica, Daniel, the Sibyl Cumæa, Isaiah, and
the Sibyl Delphica. In the four corners are--Moses lifting up the
Brazen Serpent, King Artaxerxes, Esther and Haman, David and Goliath,
Judith and Holofernes. In the arches over the windows, and in the
recesses, Genealogy of Christ from Abraham to Joseph.
THE WALLS.--Behind the altar is the great fresco of Michael Angelo,
representing the Last Judgment, designed by him when in his sixtieth
year, and completed in eight years (1540). _At the top_ is our
Saviour, with the Virgin seated on his right, above angels bearing the
instruments of the passion. _On one side_ of our Lord are saints and
patriarchs, and on the other martyrs. _Below_, a group of angels
sounding the last trump and bearing the books of judgment. _On the
right_ is represented the fall of the condemned; Charon ferrying some
of them across the river Styx, striking the tumultuous with his oar.
The figure in the right-hand corner, representing Midas with ass's
ears, is Messer Biagio of Casena, the Pope's master of the ceremonies,
who said the nude figures were indecent; on which account the Pope
ordered Daniele da Volterra to cover them with drapery, which obtained
for him the cognomen of _Braghettone_ (breeches-maker). Michael Angelo
said, "Let the Pope reform the world, and the pictures will reform
themselves." And to spite Biagio, he represented him in hell, whereat
he complained to the Pope in order to have his figure removed. The
Pope replied that as he was in hell he must stop there, as he had no
power to release from hell, but from purgatory! _On the left_, the
blessed are ascending to heaven assisted by angels and saints.
_Between the windows_, portraits of the Popes of the time, by the
artist of the subject below. The lower part of the walls is painted in
imitation of drapery, over which were hung on grand ceremonies
tapestries from Raphael's cartoons.
_On the side walls_ are scenes from the life of Moses typical of the
life of our Lord. _On entering, to the right_--