The Athletes at the corner of the ribs of the roof were in place of the
bound captives, two of which are now in the Louvre, and the nine histories
of the Creation and the Flood fill the panels like the bronze reliefs of
the Tomb. The detail and completeness of this fresco are the best
refutation of the frequent criticism that Michael Angelo did not finish
his work. The fact is, that he finished more than any one. Had Michael
Angelo done no work but this vault of the Sistine Chapel, it would have
represented an output equal in quantity alone to that of the most prolific
of his brother Italian artists. It is veritably a large picture-gallery of
his works in itself. An idea of its numerical magnitude may be got by
dividing it up into its component units and making an inventory of them.
The vault itself, according to Heath Wilson, is one hundred and thirty-one
feet six inches long, by forty-five feet two and a half inches wide at the
large door end, and forty-three feet two and a half inches at the altar
end, an area of nearly six thousand square feet, which apparently does not
represent the arch measurement but only the plane covered by the arch, nor
does it take account of the triangular and semicircular spaces above the
windows. This vast surface is divided into:--
Four large pictures stretching over more than one-third of the width of
the roof, and containing from five to more than forty-five figures, some
of them twelve feet in height.
Five pictures, half the size of the last, with from one to eight figures
in each.
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