Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

By now, Ross King’s blockbuster book, Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling, is well known to many lovers of art and Rome-antics. But, just in case you’ve missed it, we want to remind you that it’s out there and that it’s well worth your time. It provides an excellent and enjoyable overview of the immense task undertaken by Michelangelo when he was commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Pope Julius II.

It wasn’t Michelangelo’s first encounter with the formidable pontiff. Julius II had already asked Michelangelo to create a colossal tomb for him, then cancelled the project, an act that angered Michelangelo and made him swear never again to work for Julius. It was a promise that couldn’t be kept, however, for in 1508 Julius summoned Michelangelo to Rome and set him on the task of painting the Sistine Ceiling.

As King points out, Michelangelo was perhaps not the most logical choice for this project. His experience as a painter was limited, yet he was to produce a masterpiece that still attracts enormous crowds almost 500 years after its completion. The process by which the ceiling came into being is the subject of King’s book, but
it’s hardly a straight forward art history.

Rather, Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling should be considered to be a history of the Papal Court and its artists, for King aims to give his reader a complete picture of the social context in which Michelangelo worked. As a result, we learn much about the relationship between Michelangelo and the Pope; about the interactions between Michelangelo and the other superstar artists, like Raphael, working for Julius II; about the techniques and processes used by Michelangelo to paint the ceiling; and about the complex relationship that Michelangelo maintained with his family in Florence.