Well, I suppose it had to happen sooner or later, what with the Creation of Adam being astride the top of these blogs week in, week out: it’s time to look at that apex predator of the Renaissance art world, and number one cause of visitors’ neck strain, the Sistine Chapel. No visit to Rome is complete without it, and perhaps no blog on the sublime can afford to omit it.

First, a whistle-stop history tour: Sistine Chapel 101, if you like. Meet Pope Sixtus IV, pope between 1471 and 1484:

It was Sixtus (adjective “Sistine” in case you need that mansplained) who commissioned the building of the chapel, which was completed in 1481 and has served ever since as the Pope’s official residence. Sixtus is also known for founding the Spanish Inquisition, but that’s another story, let’s stick with the chapel. He arranged for a team of painters (not Michelangelo yet – he comes later – but including two other famous names, Botticelli and Ghirlandiao) to create a series of frescoes on the walls, depicting the lives of Moses and Jesus.

Fast forward to 1508 and Pope Julius II is in charge (Julius was a relative of Sixtus: nepotism was another of Sixtus’s strong suits):

Julius commissioned Michelangelo to complete the decoration of the chapel by painting the ceiling, which he completed four years later in 1512. This was a project that changed the course of Western art and is rightly regarded as one of the crowning artistic accomplishments of human civilisation. Replete with biblical scenes,  stories and characters, the ceiling is a riotous collection of limbs and draperies, at first glance, and indeed a photo of the ceiling doesn’t really do it justice – but given time to appreciate (whilst not bumping into fellow tourists), it is an artistic tour de force that warrants its fame. Click on these images to expand; the first to spot the Creation of Adam wins a prize…