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Michelangelo's vocation was sculpting. Perhaps his most famous sculpture was the David (Currently in Florence, Italy) and he is widely known for his painting the Sistine Chapel (in the Vatican, in Rome, Italy). Pope Julius II first commissioned Michelangelo to build his tomb, which was not completed and had only 1 of the 40 statues Michelangelo was to build. It was not done by the time the pope died. Before Julius II passed, though, he commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He didn't want to paint it, because he was not a painter; he was a sculptor. He did it, though. It is painted with scenes from the Old and New Testament. It was considered innapropriate and there was much discrepancy over it, because it portraied nude figures in the Pope's private chapel. The Pope did not want to take it down, so it remains today, expressing human beauty.

Later the Last Judgment was commissioned by Clement VII in the same room as the Sistine Chapel. It showed Jesus in His full glory, coming to earth to judge the living and the dead. Saints are depicted with symbols of their martyrdom, and St. Bartholomew holds Michelangelo's flayed skin. In a kind of whirlwind, the pure souls fly to heaven, while the damned souls are sent to Hell, with expressions of pure terror and fear written plainly on their faces. He also painted his "enemy" in the corner of the painting as a kind of devil. Michelangelo claims the figure is helping to judge the souls, but I personally think he was getting back at the guy.

I hope this helped.

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I'm doing a research paper on him.

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14y ago

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