How was the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling painted?
Explore the tools and techniques behind Michelangelo’s lofty Renaissance masterpiece
In painting the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling in the early part of the 16th centur y, Michelangelo had to overcome a number of daunting hurdles. The first comes directly from the physical proper ties of the ceiling, as it is a barrel vau lt, which is a cur ved surface. To make it more difficult still, that barrel vault is intersec ted with smaller vaults posit ioned over the w indows. As such there are no flat surfaces any where except around the w indows, where the artist also painted a series of half-moon-shaped lu net tes. As a result, even pr ior to picking up a paintbr ush Michelangelo had to first work out how to c reate realistic portrayals of human figures in proper propor t ion and in mot ion on these wildly u neven surfaces. His abilit y to pull this off is testament to his immense artistic skill.