Italian Renaissance painting
In 1508 Pope Julius II succeeded in getting the Florentine sculptor Michelangelo (1475-1564) to agree to continue the decorative scheme of the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel ceiling was constructed in such a way that there were twelve sloping pendentives supporting the vault that formed ideal surfaces on which to paint the Twelve Apostles. Michelangelo soon devised an entirely different scheme, far more complex both in design and in iconography. The scale of the work, which he executed single handed except for manual assistance, was titanic and took nearly five years to complete.
St. Sebastian (Antonello da Messina)
The visit of the Sicilian artist Antonello da Messina to Venice in 1475–6 has traditionally been seen as turning point in the history of the city's painting – Giorgio Vasari crediting him with introducing oil painting to Venice. Antonello painted two altarpieces for Venetian churches, one for the church of San Cassiano, and the other, of which the "St Sebastian" once formed part, for the altar of the Scuola di San Rocca in the parish church of San Giuliano. It has often been assumed to have been painted in Venice in 1476, but it may have been painted only after Antonella's return to Sicily in the autumn of that year. A description by Francesco Sansovino, dating from 1581, indicates that the altarpiece consisted of a wooden statue of St Roche, flanked by painted panels showing St Christopher and St Sebastian. Sansovino describes the panel of St Christopher as being by Antonello, and that of St Sebastian as being by "Pino da Messina" (i.e. his son Jacobello or "Jacopino"). However art historians have generally accepted Antonello's authorship of the "St Sebastian". The statue and the painting of "St Christopher" are now lost.