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The Last Judgement , on the altar surround of the chapel, was painted by Michelangelo more than twenty years later, between 1535 and 1541. Michelangelo wasn’t especially keen to work on this either - he was still engaged on Julius II’s tomb, under threat of legal action from the late pope’s family - but Pope Paul III, a old acquaintance of the artist, was keen to complete the decoration of the chapel. Michelangelo tried to delay by making demands that were likely to cause the pope to give up entirely, insisting on the removal of two paintings by Perugino and the closing of a window that pierced the end of the chapel. Furthermore he insisted that the surround be replastered, with the top six inches out of the perpendicular to prevent the accumulation of soot and dust.The painting took five years, again single-handed, but it is probably the most inspired and most homogeneous large-scale painting you’re ever likely to see, the technical virtuosity of Michelangelo taking a back seat to the sheer exuberance of the work. The human body is fashioned into a finely captured set of exquisite poses: even the unsaved can be seen as a celebration of the human form. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the painting offended some, and even before it was complete Rome was divided as to its merits, especially regarding the etiquette of introducing such a display of nudity into the pope’s private chapel. But Michelangelo’s response to this was unequivocal, lampooning one of his fiercer critics, the pope’s master of ceremonies at the time, Biago di Cesena, as Minos, the doorkeeper of hell, with ass’s ears and an entwined serpent in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture. Later the pope’s zealous successor, Pius IV, objected to the painting and would have had it removed entirely had not Michelangelo’s pupil, Daniele da Volterra, appeased him by carefully - and selectively - adding coverings to some of the more obviously unclothed figures, earning himself forever the nickname of the “breeches-maker”. During the recent work, most of the remaining breeches have been discreetly removed, restoring the painting to its former glory.

Briefly, the painting shows the last day of existence, when the bodily resurrection of the dead takes place and the human race is brought before Christ to be either sent to eternity in Paradise or condemned to suffer in Hell. The centre is occupied by Christ, turning angrily as he gestures the condemned to the underworld. St Peter, carrying his gold and silver keys, looks on in astonishment at his Lord filled with rage, while Mary averts her eyes from the scene. Below Christ a group of angels blasts their trumpets to summon the dead from their sleep. Somewhat amusingly, one angel holds a large book, the book of the damned, while another carries a much smaller one, the book of the saved. On the left, the dead awaken from their graves, tombs and sarcophagi and are levitating into the heavens or being pulled by ropes and the napes of their necks by angels who take them before Christ. At the bottom right, Charon, keeper of the underworld, swings his oar at the unsaved souls as they start off the boat into the inactivity gates of hell. Among other characters portrayed are many martyred saints, the apostles, Adam, and, peeking out between the legs of the fear on the left of Christ, Julius II, with a look of fear and astonishment

Tags: altar wall, back seat, breeches, cesena, doorkeeper, julius ii, last judgement, master of ceremonies, michelangelo, minos, more than twenty years, old acquaintance, perugino, pope paul iii, private chapel, sheer exuberance, six inches, soot, technical virtuosity, volterra