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Hello in 5006, Pope Julius II gave Michelangelo the chance to create arguably

the greatest work of art in his time or since, the ceiling

of the Sistine Chapel. For the papacy his achievement was a bold affirmation of the

spiritual and political status of the Vatican and of the Catholic Church.

For Michelangelo, famous then as a sculptor of David, it was a test of skill, of stamina, and

of the potential for art to amaze realized in his astonishing mastery of the human form.

With me to discuss the Sistine Javelar, Sarah Vowles, the Smyrnaudov family curator of Italian and French

prints and drawings at the British Museum,

Mathias Wibble, the Ordage Jebston and curator of 16th century Italian paintings at the National Gallery,

and Catherine Fletcher, Professor of History at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Catherine Fletcher, who built the Sistine Chapel and why did he build it?

The chapel takes its name from Pope Sixes the 4th who was the uncle of Julius the second.

So we're actually going back to the paper C that runs from 1471 to 1484.

And Sixtus was one of a series of popes in later Renaissance Rome who was

interested in really glorifying the city. Now the Vatican complex obviously

been around for some time the old Capella Majori was not in a best state and

sixters decided to build a new magnificent chapel to replace it. Now this would not

...