Florentine painting
In 1508 Pope Julius II succeeded in getting the sculptor Michelangelo 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, who had yielded to the Pope's demands with little grace, 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.
Conservation and restoration of frescos
The Sistine Chapel was restored in the late 1970s and through the 1980s. This was one of the most significant, largest and longest art restoration projects in history. The entire project took twelve years to complete, not taking into account the inspections, planning and approval of the project. Among the many parts of the chapel that was restored, what drew the most attention were Michelangelo's frescoes. The restoration sparked controversy. A number of experts criticized the proposed techniques, claiming that the restoration procedure would scrape off the layers of various materials on the frescoes, which would lead to damage beyond repair, and that the removal of the materials would expose the pigments on the frescoes which were fragile and dated to artificial light, temperature variations, humidity and pollution. Such exposure, they feared, would cause massive damage to the original artwork.