Michelangelo the sistine chapel frescos

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On the 10th of May 1508 I signed a contract to agree to fulfill Pope Julius?commission on painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I had bad feelings about thewhole thing from the day Julius commissioned me to paint instead of sculpt. I am anarchitect and sculptor not a fresco painter. It is not that I doubt my ability?s to completesuch a task, but I believe that there are other artists that would be much better suited for the job than I. It is of course an honor to be chosen to paint such a ceiling and Julius isfar to stubborn to find anyone else but myself, so I will paint and I will make it one of thegreatest fresco paintings there will ever be.(Brandes, 254).

The scaffolding that was to be used for the work was horrible. Bramante haddesigned a scaffolding that required holes in my ceiling. How was I to paint a gloriouswork of art with holes in it! The first thing I did was have his scaffolding torn apart.

Ithen designed a new structure; my ingenious scaffold increased its strength with the weight that was put on it. I mounted floor boards along obliquely running columns thatwere separated my wedges of wood. Maybe Julius has chosen the right man for the job I sent to Florence for a number of assistance to help me with the fresco?s and thetechnique since I am somewhat hazy with the technique involved. I started my work onthe cartoons for the frescos. These 12 Apostles that I am commissioned to paint are soboring I must find a way around painting them in such a dull fashion. As we started to paint the fresco?s I became very uninspired by the idea of the 12 apostles I was upset andconfused. I knew that...