Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel ceiling is considered to be Michelangelo's greatest masterpiece, and one of the most significant and ambitious painting projects in history. Michelangelo painted the ceiling between the years 1508 and 1512. The fresco paintings cover an area of over 12,000 square feet. His designs were from major stories and themes from the Bible including the creation story, God's relationship with mankind (featuring Biblical figures, kings and prophets) and mankind's fall from God's grace. He also included the story of the Roman Catholic Church and the genealogy of Jesus Christ. His compilation featured over 300 Biblical figures including angels, prophets, disciples and sibyls. Perhaps the most famous scene is The Creation of Adam, showing God reaching from the Heavens down to Earth to give Adam, the first man, life. This painting is a part of nine larger panels in the center of the ceiling that depict the creation story as told in the book of Genesis. Michelangelo's other famous painting, The Last Judgment, which was painted above the altar wall, was actually painted much later, from 1537–1541. This book contains 138 illustrations of Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine Chapel.



This book was created from a scan of the original artifact, and as such the text of the book is not selectable or searchable.