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Walking Tours of Rome

The Sistine Chapel


Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome
The Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina) was built at the end of the 1470s by Pope Sixtus IV (r. 1471-84) and served as a place of worship for the Cappella Papalis (Papal Chapel), a body which was made up of the pope and a large number of senior ecclesiastical and secular officials. The chapel, which is 40 metres (130 feet) long, 13 metres (42 feet) wide and 20 metres (65 feet) high, is thought to have been designed by the Florentine architect, Baccio Pontelli. 

When it came to decorating the chapel Pope Sixtus IV turned again to Florence. Three of the four artists that were selected, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli, were Florentine by birth, while the fourth, Pietro Perugino, was Florentine by adoption. The group was commissioned to paint scenes illustrating the life of Moses on the south wall and scenes from the life of Christ on the north wall. 

The artists began work in October 1481. All four walls of the chapel were divided by fictive architectural elements into three horizontal tiers. At the lowest tier the walls were painted with fictive curtains, emblazoned with the coat of arms (an oak tree) of Pope Sixtus IV. The middle, and most important, tier was divided up into sixteen ‘panels’, each 20 feet long by 12 feet high, which corresponded to the bays beneath the windows. Here we find the two cycles of stories from the Old and New Testaments. The top tier contains depictions of the earliest popes, who stand in painted niches.

We do not know how the artists apportioned the work, but we do know that it was not divided equally. Ghirlandaio, for example, only painted two of the major scenes, while Perugino painted five. Whenever artists were involved in a collective project, one assumes that an overall artistic concept had been worked out in advance. Each artist would have to adjust his manner of working, technique and even style to the agreed standard. This was most certainly the case in the Sistine Chapel. Throughout the two cycles, the sizes of the principal figures are fairly consistent, landscape backgrounds fill roughly the same amount of space, the horizon is at the same height and architectural features are done roughly to the same scale. For instance, in all six frescoes on the north wall, Christ is recognisable through the clothes he wears, a red tunic and a blue cloak. In the case of Moses, who always wears a yellow tunic and an olive green cloak, the artists took equal care to create a definite and recognisable figure. Moses’ advancing age is also depicted, as we progress from one fresco to the next.

An engraving (1899) by G. Tognetti attempts to reconstruct the initial appearance of the interior of the Sistine Chapel
An engraving (1899) by G. Tognetti depicts what the interior of the
chapel probably looked like after the initial phase of decoration

By the time the four artists started work in the chapel, the ceiling would already have been painted. The man responsible for this task was Piermatteo d’Amelia, who painted a vision of the heavens with gold stars glistening against a blue background.
 
The two wall cycles represent the history of salvation by placing episodes from the Old Testament opposite those from the New Testament and drawing complex analogies between them. Each fresco is thus the prefiguration or fulfilment of the one opposite. The Latin inscriptions, which surmount the frescoes, were composed by Andreas Trapezuntius, secretary to Pope Sixtus IV. The frescoes illustrating scenes from the life of Christ were expressly painted on the north wall so that they would receive the maximum amount of daylight. The fact that such scenes are better lit indicates their greater theological importance in the eyes of the Catholic Church. The pope’s throne also stood against the south wall, under the frescoes of the Old Testament and facing those of the New.
 
Both cycles would have begun on the altar wall with paintings depicting scenes from the early lives of Christ and Moses. However, these two frescoes, which were the work of Perugino, were destroyed in 1536 when Michelangelo came to paint the Last Judgement. All four painters made use of a technique known as continuous narration, in which two or more events (separated by time and/or space) are depicted within a single painting. Continuous narration had originally been developed by Ghiberti and Masaccio in the first quarter of the 15th century. By the time it came to be used in the Sistine Chapel, it was an old-fashioned technique. But it was the only way to depict the many events, which the complex programme required. 

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walking Tours of Rome

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    • S. Anastasia al Palatino
    • S. Andrea al Quirinale
    • S. Andrea della Valle
    • S. Andrea delle Fratte
    • S. Angelo in Pescheria
    • S. Anna dei Palafrenieri
    • S. Antonio dei Portoghesi
    • S. Apollinare
    • Ss. Apostoli
    • S. Balbina
    • S. Barbara dei Librai
    • S. Bartolomeo all' Isola
    • S. Benedetto in Piscinula
    • S. Bernardo alle Terme
    • S. Bibiana
    • S. Brigida
    • S. Carlo ai Catinari
    • S. Carlo al Corso
    • S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
    • S. Caterina a Magnanopoli
    • S. Caterina dei Funari
    • S. Caterina da Siena
    • S. Cecilia in Trastevere
    • Ss. Celso e Giuliano
    • S. M. in Monticelli
    • Ss. Claudio e Andrea
    • S. Clemente >
      • Cappella Castiglione
    • Ss. Cosma e Damiano
    • S. Crisogono
    • S. Costanza
    • S. Croce in Gerusalemme >
      • Chapel of St Helen
    • Ss. Domenico e Sisto
    • S. Dorotea
    • S. Eusebio
    • S. Eustachio
    • S. Francesco a Ripa >
      • Cappella Altieri
      • Cappella Rospigliosi-Pallavicini
    • S. Francesca Romana
    • S. Giacomo degli Spagnoli
    • S. Giorgio in Velabro
    • S. Giovanni a Porta Latina
    • S. Giovanni Decollato
    • S. Giovanni dei Fiorentini
    • S. Giovanni della Pigna
    • Ss. Giovanni e Paolo
    • S. Giovanni in Laterano >
      • Cappella Corsini
      • Cappella Lancellotti
    • S. Girolamo dei Croati
    • S. Girolamo della Carità >
      • Cappella Antamoro
      • Cappella Spada
    • S. Giuliano dei Fiamminghi
    • S. Giuseppe dei Falegnami
    • S. Gregorio Magno
    • S. Ignazio di Loyola
    • S. Ivo alla Sapienza
    • S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura
    • S. Lorenzo in Damaso
    • S. Lorenzo in Lucina
    • S. Lorenzo in Miranda
    • S. Lucia del Gonfalone
    • S. Luigi dei Francesi >
      • Cappella Contarelli
    • Ss. Luca e Martina
    • Ss. Marcellino e Pietro
    • S. Marcello al Corso
    • S. Marco
    • S. Maria ad Martyres
    • S. Maria ai Monti
    • S. Maria Annunziata
    • S. Maria degli Angeli
    • S. Maria dei Miracoli
    • S. Maria della Concezione
    • S. Maria del Popolo >
      • Cappella Cerasi
      • Cappella Chigi
    • S. Maria dei Sette Dolori
    • S. Maria del Priorato
    • S. Maria della Consolazione
    • S. Maria della Pace >
      • Chigi Chapel
      • Cloister of Bramante
    • S. Maria della Scala
    • S. Maria della Vittoria >
      • Cappella Cornaro
    • S. Maria delle Grazie
    • S. Maria dell' Anima
    • S. Maria dell' Orazione e Morte
    • S. Maria dell' Orto
    • S. Maria di Loreto
    • S. Maria in Aracoeli >
      • Cappella Bufalini
    • S. Maria in Aquiro
    • S. Maria in Campitelli
    • S. Maria in Cosmedin
    • S. Maria in Domnica
    • S. Maria in Monserrato
    • S. Maria in Montesanto
    • S. Maria in Traspontina
    • S. Maria in Trastevere >
      • Cappella Altemps
    • S. Maria in Trivio
    • S. Maria in Via
    • S. Maria in Via Lata
    • S. Maria Maddalena
    • S. Maria Maggiore >
      • Baptistery
      • Cappella Paolina
      • Cappella Sistina
    • S. Maria sopra Minerva >
      • Cappella Carafa
      • Chapel of the Annunciation
    • S. Maria Scala Coeli
    • S. Martino ai Monti
    • Ss. Nereo e Achilleo
    • S. Nicola da Tolentino
    • S. Nicola dei Lorenesi
    • S. Nicola in Carcere
    • Ss. Nome di Maria
    • S. Onofrio al Gianicolo
    • S. Pancrazio
    • S. Pantaleo
    • S. Paolo alla Regola
    • S. Paolo alle Tre Fontane
    • S. Paolo fuori le Mura
    • S. Pasquale Baylon
    • S. Pietro in Montorio
    • S. Pietro in Vincoli
    • S. Prassede
    • S. Prisca
    • S. Pudenziana
    • Ss. Quattro Coronati
    • S. Rita da Cascia
    • S. Rocco
    • S. Saba
    • S. Sabina >
      • Chapel of St Catherine
      • Chapel of St Hyacinth
    • S. Salvatore in Lauro
    • S. Salvatore in Onda
    • S. Sebastiano fuori le Mura >
      • Cappella Albani
    • S. Silvestro in Capite
    • S. Sisto Vecchio
    • S. Spirito in Sassia
    • S. Stanislao dei Polacchi
    • S. Stefano Rotondo
    • Ss Stimmate di San Francesco
    • Ss. Sudario dei Piemontesi
    • S. Susanna
    • Ss. Trinità degli Spagnoli
    • Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini
    • Ss. Trinità di Monti
    • Ss. Vincenzo e Anastasio
    • Ss. Vincenzo e Anastasio
    • S. Vitale
  • Cloisters
  • Palatine
  • Forum
    • Arch of Septimius Severus
    • Arch of Titus
    • Basilica of Maxentius
    • Curia Julia
    • Temple of Antoninus Pius
    • Temple of Castor and Pollux
    • Temple of Saturn
    • Temple of Venus and Rome
    • Temple of Vespasian and Titus
    • Temple of Vesta
  • Ancient Monuments
    • Aqueducts
    • Ara Pacis
    • Arch of Constantine
    • Arch of Drusus
    • Arch of Gallienus
    • Arch of Janus
    • Arch of the Money-Changers
    • Aurelian Walls
    • Baths of Caracalla
    • Baths of Diocletian
    • Castel Sant' Angelo
    • Catacombs of Domitilla
    • Circus Maxentius
    • Circus Maximus
    • Colosseum
    • Column of Marcus Aurelius
    • Column of Trajan
    • Forum of Augustus
    • Forum of Trajan
    • Mausoleum of Augustus
    • Nymphaeum
    • Pantheon
    • Ponte Fabricio
    • Ponte Milvio
    • Ponte Rotto
    • Ponte Sant' Angelo
    • Porta Maggiore
    • Porta San Paolo
    • Porta San Sebastiano
    • Portico of Octavia
    • Pyramid of Cestius
    • Temple of Hadrian
    • Temple of Hercules
    • Temple of Jupiter
    • Temple of Portunus
    • Theatre of Balbus
    • Theatre of Marcellus
    • Theatre of Pompey
    • Tomb of Caecilia Metella
    • Via Appia
  • Obelisks
    • 'Minerveo' Obelisk
    • 'Flaminio' Obelisk
    • 'Matteiano' Obelisk
    • 'Lateran' Obelisk
    • 'Dogali' Obelisk
    • 'Macuteo' Obelisk
    • 'Solare' Obelisk
    • 'Vatican' Obelisk
    • 'Agonalis' Obelisk
    • 'Sallustiano' Obelisk
    • 'Quirinale' Obelisk
    • 'Esquiline' Obelisk
    • 'Pinciano' Obelisk
    • 'Mediceo' Obelisk
    • 'Torlonia' Obelisks
    • 'Mussolini' Obelisk
    • 'Marconi' Obelisk
  • Mosaics
    • Sant' Agnese fuori le Mura
    • Santa Cecilia in Trastevere
    • San Clemente
    • Santa Costanza
    • Santa Francesca Romana
    • San Lorenzo fuori le Mura
    • San Marco
    • Santa Maria in Domnica
    • Santa Maria in Trastevere
    • Santa Maria Maggiore
    • Santa Prassede >
      • San Zenone
    • Santa Pudenziana
    • Santo Stefano Rotondo
    • San Teodoro
    • San Venanzio
    • Santi Cosma e Damiano
    • Santi Nereo e Achilleo
  • Palaces
    • Palazzo Barberini
    • Palazzo dei Conservatori
    • Palazzo del Quirinale
    • Palazzo della Cancelleria
    • Palazzo della Consulta
    • Palazzo delle Esposizioni
    • Palazzo Farnese
    • Palazzo Farnesina
    • Palazzo di Giustizia
    • Palazzo Laterano
    • Palazzo Madama
    • Palazzo Spada
    • Palazzo Venezia
    • Palazzo Zuccari
    • Villa Giulia
    • Villa Farnesina
    • Villa Medici
  • Galleries & Museums
    • Baths of Diocletian
    • Capitoline Museums
    • Etruscan Museum
    • Galleria Borghese
    • Galleria Colonna
    • Galleria Doria-Pamphilj
    • Palazzo Altemps
    • Palazzo Massimo
  • Piazzas
    • Campo de' Fiori
    • Piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta
    • Piazza del Campidoglio
    • Piazza del Popolo
    • Piazza del Quirinale
    • Piazza della Repubblica
    • Piazza Farnese
    • Piazza Navona
    • Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II
  • Miscellaneous
    • A Calendar of Saints
    • A Literary Tour of Rome
    • Antico Caffè Greco
    • Babington's Tea Rooms
    • Barberini Bees
    • Borromini & the Baroque
    • Catacombs
    • Column of the Immaculate Conception
    • Domes
    • Equestrian Statues
    • EUR >
      • Museum of Roman Civilisation
    • Fasces
    • Flood Plaques
    • Galleria Sciarra
    • House of the Owls
    • Jewish Ghetto
    • Knights of Malta
    • Mithraism
    • Monumental Complex of S. Spirito in Sassia
    • Nolli Map of Rome
    • Ponte Sisto
    • Porta Pia
    • 'Protestant' Cemetery
    • Quartiere Coppedè
    • Scala Santa
    • Spanish Steps
    • Street Shrines
    • 'Talking' Palaces
    • 'Talking' Statues
    • Tiber Island
    • Views of Rome
    • Villa Borghese
    • Vittoriano
  • On This Day in Italy
    • January
    • February
    • March
    • April
    • May
    • June
    • July
    • August
    • September
    • October
    • November
    • December
  • The Bernini Trail
  • Baroque Sculptors
    • Alessandro Algardi
    • Pietro Bracci
    • Ercole Ferrata
    • Domenico Guidi
    • Pierre Le Gros
    • Giuseppe Mazzuoli
    • Antonio Raggi
    • Camillo Rusconi
    • Filippo della Valle
  • Florence
    • A Literary Tour
    • Anna Maria Luisa: Last of the Medici
    • Canons' Palace
    • Casa-Galleria Vichi
    • Column of Justice
    • Column of St Zenobius
    • Cosimo I de' Medici
    • Cosimo II de' Medici
    • Costanza Bonarelli
    • David With Fig Leaf
    • Elizabeth Barrett Browning
    • Equestrian Statue of Cosimo I de' Medici
    • Equestrian Statue of Ferdinando I de' Medici
    • Festina Lente
    • Flood Plaques
    • Fontana del Bacchino
    • Fontana dei Puttini
    • Fountain of Neptune
    • Fountains of the Marine Monsters
    • Gian Gastone de' Medici
    • Girolamo Savonarola
    • Images of the Annunciation
    • Little Devil
    • Monument to Cellini
    • Palazzo Bartolini-Salimbeni
    • Palazzo Bianca Cappello
    • Palazzo Fenzi
    • Palazzo Viviani
    • Perseus and Medusa
    • Piazza Santa Maria Novella
    • Pope Leo XI
    • Porta della Mandorla
    • Rape of the Sabine Woman
    • Santa Maria Novella
    • Statue of Dante
    • Theft of the Century
    • Torre del Arnolfo
    • Twelve Good Men
    • Villa Gamberaia
    • Wheel of the Innocents
    • 'Wine Windows'
  • Lazio
    • Bomarzo: Parco dei Mostri
    • Viterbo: Santa Rosa
  • Tuscany
    • Arezzo: Giorgio Vasari
    • Lucca: Puccini
    • Pistoia: Ospedale del Ceppo
    • Siena: The Balzana
    • Siena: The Palio
  • Venice
    • 421: Foundation of Venice
    • Acqua Alta
    • Bartolomeo Colleoni
    • Barque of Dante
    • Caffè Florian
    • Daniele Manin
    • Flagpoles
    • Giustina Rossi
    • Gondolas
    • Harry's Bar
    • Henry James
    • House of Three Eyes
    • Island of Lace
    • King Victor Emmanuel II
    • Map of Venice
    • Martinmas
    • Master of the House
    • Palazzo Contarini Fasan
    • Ponte Borgoloco
    • Ponte Chiodo
    • Punta del Dogana
    • Scacciadiavoli
    • Shrine of St Lucia
    • Sior Antonio Rioba
    • The 'Book Shitter'
    • The Lion's Mouth
    • Tommaso Rangone
    • Torcello
    • Venus
    • 'Viennese Oranges'
    • Wellheads
    • Winged Lions