Days #311 of the 365 Days of Art: Sistine Chapel
Delancey Place recently featured the book Biography of a City by Christopher Hibbert (here).
It was so interesting to read that the details about this creation of this art, for example, Michelangelo "was plagued by his patron who insisted upon being let into the chapel to see what he was paying for. The Pope kept asking when it would be finished, as he clambered up the scaffold with his stick, impatient to have the chapel opened before he died. 'How much longer will it take?'
"'When it satisfies me as an artist,' Michelangelo replied on one occasion, eliciting from Julius the angry reply, 'And we want you to satisfy us, and finish it soon.'
"Later Michelangelo refused to commit himself further than to say he would finish it when he could. 'When I can! When I can!' the Pope,
infuriated, shouted back at him. 'What do you mean? When I can. I'll soon make you finish it!' He hit him with his stick, then threatened to hurl him off the scaffold if he did not get on more quickly. After these outbursts came apologies. The Pope's chamberlain would call at Michelangelo's house with presents of money, with excuses and apologies, 'explaining that such treatment was meant as a favour and a mark of affection'.Sistine Chapel Virtual Tour HERE
