Michelangelo’s immense fresco of Il Giudizio Universale on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was commissioned in 1534 and completed in 1541 – a full quarter of a century after he had painted the ceiling
With its muscular, male, mostly naked figures, this depiction of Christ’s Second Coming is typically Michelangelo and it seems surprising that people were shocked when the fresco was unveiled. But shocked they were, some considering the figures portrayed not fitting for a chapel. Well, maybe they should have asked somebody else to paint it then… In its construction it follows tradition, with the Saved ascending on the left and the Damned descending on the right. But the artist has included a disguised self-portrait, in the face of the flayed mortal skin of St Bartholomew, who sits just below and to the right of Jesus and Mary.