Michelangelo

             series of figures; and nine central panels, all bound together with .
             architectural motifs and nude male figures. The corner triangles .
             depict heroic action in the Old Testament, while the other eight .
             triangles depict the biblical ancestors of Jesus Christ. Michelangelo .
             conceived and executed this huge work as a single unit. It's overall .
             meaning is a problem. The issue has engaged historians of art for .
             generations without satisfactory resolution. The paintings that were .
             done by Michelangelo had been painted with the brightest colors that .
             just bloomed the whole ceiling as one entered to look. The ceiling had .
             been completed just a little after the Pope had died. The Sistine .
             Chapel is the best fresco ever done.
             Michelangelo embodied many characteristic qualities of the .
             Renaissance. An individualistic, highly competitive genius (sometimes .
             to the point of eccentricity). Michelangelo was not afraid to show .
             humanity in it's natural state - nakedness; even in front of the Pope .
             and the other religious leaders. Michelangelo portrayed life as it is, .
             even with it's troubles. Michelangelo wanted to express his own .
             artistic ideas. The most puzzling thing about Michelangelo's ceiling .
             design is the great number of seemingly irrelevant nude figures that .
             he included in his gigantic fresco. Four youths frame most of the .
             Genesis scenes. We know from historical records that various church .
             officials objected to the many nudes, but Pope Julius gave .
             Michelangelo artistic freedom, and eventually ruled the chapel off .
             limits to anyone save himself, until the painting was completed. The .
             many nude figures are referred to as Ignudi. They are naked humans, .
             perhaps representing the naked truth. More likely, I think they .
             represent Michelangelo's concept of the human potential for .
             perfection. Michelangelo himself said, "Whoever strives for perfection .
             is striving for something divine."" In painting nude humans, he is .