MICHELANGELO Buonarroti
(b. 1475, Caprese, d. 1564, Roma)

Lunette and Popes

1475-83, 1508-12
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican

Above the upper cornice are situated the lunettes. Between each window below the lunettes, in fictive niches, run images (painted in the Quattrocento) of the first popes - from Peter to Marcellus - who practiced their ministry in times of great persecution and were martyred.