Italy #1: Sistine Chapel
Michelangelo did not like to paint; he considered sculptures the superior art form. So how did he end up painting the famous Sistine Chapel? Short answer: Michelangelo was forced to paint, since Pope Julius II insisted he do it, explained our guide. There were other reasons why Michelangelo wasn’t keen to paint the Sistine Chapel. What was asked for sounded impossible: (1) paint all the major themes of Christianity on a single painting; (2) not on a canvas, but on a huge room (ceiling + walls). Plus, he feared that if he failed to do justice to it, it would be a very public failure that would tar his reputation. Plus, the work was literally backbreaking. So much so Michelangelo even wrote a poem on how he suffered (“hunched up here like a cat”, “ My brush, above me all the time, dribbles paint so my face makes a fine floor for droppings” and ends by saying “ My painting is dead. Defend it for me, Giovanni, protect my honor. I am not in the right place—I am not a...