Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

In 1508, Pope Julius Ii Commissioned Michelangelo To Paint The Ceiling Of The Sistine Chapel. The Thirty-three-year-old Michelangelo Had Very Little Experience Of The Physically And Technically Taxing Art Of Fresco; And, At Twelve Thousand Square Feet, The Ceiling Represented One Of The Largest Such Projects Ever Attempted. Nevertheless, For The Next Four Years He And A Hand-picked Team Of Assistants Laboured Over The Vast Ceiling, Making Thousands Of Drawings And Spending Back-breaking Hours On A Scaffold Fifty Feet Above The Floor. The Result Was One Of The Greatest Masterpieces Of All Time. This Fascinating Book Tells The Story Of Those Four Extraordinary Years And Paints A Magnificent Picture Of Day-to-day Life On The Sistine Scaffolding - And Outside, In The Upheaval Of Early Sixteenth-century Rome.