Gallery of the Sistine Chapel ceiling

The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is one of the most renowned artworks of the High Renaissance.

The complex design includes several sets of individual figures, both clothed and nude, which allowed Michelangelo to fully demonstrate his skill in creating a huge variety of poses for the human figure, and have provided an enormously influential pattern book of models for other artists ever since.

Both have been included by Michelangelo as a sign that the Messiah (Jesus Christ) was to come not just for the Jews but also for the Gentiles (non-Jewish people).

The four corner pendentives show violent episodes in which the People of Israel were rescued from enemies, or from their own sinful ways.

The composition of many of the pictures is similar to that found in depictions of the Holy Family resting on the Flight into Egypt.