Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 10

The blues which Michelangelo used in the Sistine-Chapel frescoes were imported from Afghanistan.  But as he painted the first scene, the inexperienced fresco artist discovered a serious problem.  Mildew showed up, leading to a huge setback.

Being so close to his work, Michelangelo's body was wracked with pain.  He wrote a poem about how difficult it was.

But it wasn't just the pain which the extremely close work caused.  Michelangelo misjudged the size of some of his figures, which he had to correct.  He would not make that mistake again.

Artists attempting to duplicate what Michelangelo endured, over four years, were in bad shape after their first week.  Were that not enough, Pope Julius II kept pushing him to get the project finished - yet did not keep up with payments owed the artist.

Tensions on the set became the norm, after the Pope returned from an extended trip.

See, also:

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 1

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 2

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 3

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 4

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 5

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 6

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 7

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 8

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 9

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 11

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 12

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 13

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 14

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 15

Credits

From "The Divine Michelangelo" (2004), with Stephen Noonan playing the title role.  Online, courtesy BBC.

Directors
Tim Dunn
Stuart Elliott

Narrator
Susannah York

Michelangelo
Stephen Noonan