How exactly did Michelangelo paint the Sistine chapel? How long did it take?

Question

His proportions were so exact, all this while lying on his back?

Answer 1

It was a style of painting (I think you call it a fresco, but unfortunately I can't recall right now) that involved laying down fresh plaster, and then painting on the surface while it was still wet. whatever part of the ceiling was being painted had to be made in the 24-36 hour time span that the plaster stayed wet. It was often unpleasant grueling work. and yeah, he did do most of it on his back on scaffolding.
I'm not sure how much of the work he planned out, but Michelangelo was an extremely talented man who's always had a very good eye for mathematics, which I'm sure helped immensely with proportions.

I believe he worked on this for 5 years.

Answer 2

actually the walls of the Sistine chapel were painted by Perugino,
Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Rossellini, Signoreli and there workshops..Michelangelo was commissioned by the church to paint the ceiling in 1508.. the church had him paint over the original artwork on the ceiling..this provoked anger by earlier artist..he finished the left center and left section of the painting in 1512...also the main ceiling....The first layer of plaster started to mold and fall during his painting ending in frustration ...the art technique had not been perfected for ceilings...The last judgment was painted in 1535-1541...he did it all on his back....in 1981 through 1994 restoration had began on the mural. It was taken by the art community with great controversy...mainly because bright colors were used so that the murals would stand out in the dark...there was no documentation that Michelangelo ever did this originally.. The ceiling has been the subject matter of numerous ads and spoofs...including and off Broadway play.called.."on the ceiling."..in 1998 a student named Ryan Du Val went to the Sistine chapel and came back to Northern University and replicated it ... a portion of it on his ceiling...the university wanted it to be painted over...Ryan won a law suit against the university in compliance with the visual arts right act....he gained national publicity after his exposer.Michaelangelos did the actual drawings in scale..then small holes were pushed through the paper...charcoal ashes were rubbed through it transferring the image onto the ceiling ...like a giant connect the dots...it was again redrawn on the ceiling before it was painted...A great movie to buy about Michaelangelo, Raphael, and Leanardo is called "A Season of Giants...It chronicles the story and the hate that went on between these masters...a made for tv mini series on TNT...It also explains a lot about the history of the sistine chapel...it starred f Murray abraham. John Glover and Mark Frankel...great film...

Answer 3

he did not all by himself.The name of the chapel comes from pope Sisto IV (1471-1484).

Michelangelo was hired in 1536 to paint the Universal Judgment which is the best part of the paintings on the roof. He terminated his masterpiece in 1541 and the chapel was inaugurated on the night of christmas that year.

among others famous painters were Botticelli, Signorelli Rosselli, Il Ghirlandaio Il perugino, il pinturicchio who worked on the sis

Answer 4

He finished the entire work in twenty months without any help.
He did not even have someone to grind his colors for him.
He used a ladder and scaffolding

Answer 5

He started painting it in 1536 and it was finished and unveiled in 1541. I believe he was on scaffolding while painting it.

Answer 6

In school we were told by lying on his back on top of scaffolding

Answer 7

About 4 years , maybe on scaffolding ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michaelangelo

Answer 8

lying on his back with his nose almost touching the roof he olso had helpers so he did it very quickly but he always had problems with his health after painting it

Answer 9

ladders and scaffolding, and he used many apprentices