For almost four years it was a common sight on Vatican Hill. Between eight and a dozen men at their various tasks: Mixing plaster, using pick-axes to give a ceiling the rough surface which helped plaster stick, applying plaster and painting it.
Does that sound like an ordinary construction job? It’s actually how one of history’s greatest artistic masterpieces was created—Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling.
The image of God in the act of Creation was painted in a single day, and reflects Michelangelo himself in the act of creating the ceiling. (Public Domain)
The famous story of that achievement is suitably classic. A still young Michelangelo has arguably surpassed all predecessors and contemporaries as a sculptor. But he remains largely inexperienced in fresco painting. He accepts the Sistine Chapel commission only because he has little alternative. The result stuns the world….