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

Bronze nudes

1511
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican

In the corners of the ceiling, the shape of the narrow fields reserved for the bronze nudes, at the sides of the ram's skull, makes the arrangement of the figures more difficult. Here the reclining figures, above the Punishment of Haman, each raise an arm and a leg toward the small fictive pilasters on which pairs of putti are depicted in intertwined postures.