ABSTRACT
Let’s start by looking at one of history’s most skilled masters of mas-tery. We’ll travel back in time, to early 1507, in Rome:
Michelangelo could put it off no longer. For two years he had been able to evade Pope Julius II’s insistence that he paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but only because the pope was focusing most of his energy on delicate and far-reaching efforts to bring accord among the emerging nation-states of Europe. Michelangelo, relieved, had worked on other commissions with which he felt more comfortable, while sending a stream of letters to the pope telling him why the timing wasn’t right to start working on the Sistine ceiling. But now the pope had returned to Rome, victorious from a decisive wrangle with the French. Within days of his triumphant reentry into the city, Julius met with Michelangelo and demanded that he begin work on the ceiling immediately.
