256 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



contemplated St. Peter's; and a burning jealousy ex- 

 isted between these two rival artists. The Sistine 

 Chapel had been built by Sixtus IV., uncle of Julius 

 II., and ornamented with historical paintings of some 

 merit. Those pictures were to be effaced, and the 

 walls decorated with new designs. The scaffoldings 

 were erected by Bramante, but were so objectionable 

 in many respects that Michael Angelo ordered them 

 removed, and in their place he built his own. The 

 invention proved so satisfactory that it was afterward 

 utilized in the construction of St. Peter's, and other 

 monumental structures. 



It took some time for Michael Angelo to prepare 

 the walls to be ornamented, and to try his paints and 

 colors, an occasional figure not drying out well. At 

 length all obstacles of a physical nature were over- 

 come, except a mistiness of vision in the artist pro- 

 duced by the dust of plaster, and through looking 

 upward so much while prosecuting his work. The 

 ceiling, w T hich is coved, he painted in divisions, the 

 flat space at the top having nine compartments, the 

 spaces alternating with a subject from the Old Testa- 

 ment, and then one from a delphic, cumsean, siby- 

 line, or other oracle. The mosaic account of creation 

 is portrayed in inimitable grandeur; the breath of 

 life entering Adam, the configuration of Eve, the 

 presence of Cain and Abel, the Deluge, and other 

 Biblical scenes contribute to the wonderful artistic 

 display which to our time annually influences thou- 

 sands to visit the Vatican. The visitor in Rome is 

 nowhere more highly entertained than while viewing 

 the works of Michael Angelo as displayed in the Sis- 

 tine Chapel, or in trying to compass the dome of St. 

 Peter's. While the famous Basilica was from year to 



