Michelangelo designed the Sistine Chapel ceiling and painted almost all of it himself, but he did not work alone. In 1508 he brought painters from Florence, a plasterer built his scaffold, and a few assistants stayed on to the end, long after he had sent most of the crew home.
He was a sculptor, and fresco was a trade he had barely practiced. The pope's architect Bramante doubted he could do it. The contract, signed on 8 May 1508, promised 3,000 ducats.
Cool Stories About Art is a newsletter to learn art the fun way.
Join 200,000+ readers and get:
10 new art stories / month
The entire archive of content (1,000+ articles)
Comment, ask questions, and chat with other readers
The most famous account of the job says he needed no one. Ascanio Condivi, who published Michelangelo's life in 1553 while the artist was still alive, wrote that he painted the ceiling without any help whatever, not even someone to grind his colors.
The vault is about 131 feet long and 43 feet wide, more than 5,000 square feet that had to be plastered, drawn and painted while the plaster was wet. Fresco gives no second chance, and a crew of one was not a plan any professional would have trusted.
Giorgio Vasari, who also knew Michelangelo, gave a different list. He named six painters brought from Florence to work beside him. I think Condivi's sentence records what Michelangelo wanted people to believe, and the six names say how the work was done.
What You'll Discover
Who came from Florence to help.
What spoiled his first scene.
Who he locked out of the chapel.
Who stayed until the end.
Where the lone genius story began.