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.
Chigi Chapel
The frescos between the windows of the drum (c. 1552-1554) depict scenes from the Book of Genesis in order: "Separation of Light from Darkness", "Creation of the Sun and the Moon", "Creation of the Earth", "Creation of Adam", "Creation of Eve", "Creation of the Animals", "The Original Sin" and "Expulsion from Paradise". The paintings show the strong influence of the sculptural style of Michelangelo's famous Genesis-cycle on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The scenes are not in strictly chronological order. The first five are the same as the parallel Genesis paintings in the Sistine Chapel but the sixth fresco adds a new subject, the creation of the fishes, birds and wild animals. The sixth scene of the Sistine ceiling is separated into two individual paintings on the drum of the Chigi Chapel. Salviati's cycle ends here, and the three scenes from the story of Noah, that make up the last section of Michelangelo's great sequence, are missing.