ABSTRACT
A letter of May 1506 shows that the Pope even then wanted Michelangelo to paint the Chapel - whether as a lure or as a substitute for the tomb is hard to say. On 10 May 1508 Michelangelo contracted to paint the ceiling for 3,000 ducats, 'and began work that very day.' The simplest description of Michelangelo'slast organization of the ceiling is provided by Condivi, who says that starting from the brackets, which support the horns of the lunettes, up to about a third of the arch of the vault, a flat wall is simulated. Michelangelo's decoration of the Sistine ceiling is the most grandiose pictorial ensemble in all of Western art, and for that reason it has to be approached from different points of view. The spandrels, and particularly the lunettes are painted in a more negative style. Michelangelo's noncommittal approach was perhaps appropriate for these shadowy ancestors of Christ.
