page_title: Sistine Chapel ceiling
section_title: Nine scenes from the Book of Genesis
hierarchical_section_title: Sistine Chapel ceiling / Pictorial scheme / Nine scenes from the Book of Genesis
caption_attribution_description: English: Creation of the Sun and Moon by Michelangelo, face detail of God.
context_page_description: The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art. The ceiling is that of the Sistine Chapel, the large papal chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV, for whom the chapel is named. It was painted at the commission of Pope Julius II. The chapel is the location for papal conclaves and many other important services.
  The ceiling's various painted elements form part of a larger scheme of decoration within the Chapel, which includes the large fresco The Last Judgement on the sanctuary wall, also by Michelangelo, wall paintings by several leading painters of the late 15th century including Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Pietro Perugino, and a set of large tapestries by Raphael, the whole illustrating much of the doctrine of the Catholic Church.
  Central to the ceiling decoration are nine scenes from the Book of Genesis, of which The Creation of Adam is the best known, having an iconic standing equalled only by Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the hands of God and Adam being reproduced in countless imitations.
context_section_description: Along the central section of the ceiling, Michelangelo depicted nine scenes from the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The pictures are organized into three groups of three alternating large and small fields or picture panels.
  The first group shows God creating the Heavens and the Earth. The second group shows God creating the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, and their disobedience of God and consequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden where they have lived and where they walked with God. The third group of three pictures shows the plight of Humanity and in particular the family of Noah.
  The pictures are not in strictly chronological order. If they are perceived as three groups, then the pictures in each of the three units inform upon each other, in the same way as was usual in Mediaeval paintings and stained glass. The three sections of Creation, Downfall, and Fate of Humanity appear in reverse order, when read from the entrance of the chapel. However, each individual scene is painted to be viewed when looking toward the altar. This is not easily apparent when viewing a reproduced image of the ceiling but becomes clear when the viewer looks upward at the vault. Paoletti and Radke suggest that this reversed progression symbolizes a return to a state of grace. However, the three sections are generally described in the order of Biblical chronology.
  The scenes, from the altar toward the main door, are ordered as follows:
  The Separation of Light from Darkness
  The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Plants
  The Separation of Land and Water
  The Creation of Adam
  The Creation of Eve
  The Fall and Expulsion
  The Sacrifice of Noah
  The Great Flood
  The Drunkenness of Noah
caption: Detail of the Face of God
exif: {}