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

Creation of Adam (detail)

1510
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican

The body of Adam is rendered with great softness with passages of chiaroscuro, but also with strong sculptural emphasis.

Vasari describes Adam as "a figure whose beauty, pose and contours are of such a quality that he seems newly created by his Supreme and First Creator rather by the brush and design of a mere mortal."