 Michelangelo Was a Sculptor, Not a Painter- Pope Julius II offered as a reward to Michelangelo

the wildly lucrative commission of sculpting 40 massive figures for his tomb, a project that
appealed much more to Michelangelo given his artistic style.
 Michelangelo Painted Over 5,000 Square Feet of Frescoes - The ceiling measures about
40 meters (131 feet) long by 13 meters (43 feet) wide. Although these numbers are rounded,
they demonstrate the enormous scale of this nontraditional canvas. In fact, Michelangelo
painted well over 5,000 square feet of frescoes.
 The Panels Depict More Than Just Scenes From the Book of Genesis
 The Paintings Took Four Years to Finish - It took Michelangelo a little over four years, from July
of 1508 to October of 1512.

 For example, the parapet that sits at the bottom of the painting works as a visual enticement
for the viewer to look past and into the moment that is captured between
the Virgin and Christ Child. At the same time, the parapet also acts as a barrier between the
vernacular world and the sacred.[2]
 The painting is thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del
Giocondo, and is in oil on a white Lombardy poplar panel. It had been believed to have been
painted between 1503 and 1506; however, Leonardo may have continued working on it as
late as 1517. Recent academic work suggests that it would not have been started before
 The subject's expression, which is frequently described as enigmatic,[9] the monumentality of
the composition, the subtle modelling of forms, and the atmospheric illusionism were novel
qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and study of the work