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 large Papal Chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV after whom it is named, and was painted at the commission of Pope Julius II. The chapel is the location for papal conclaves and many 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 Judgment  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 Admisthe best known, having an iconic standing equalled only by Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the hands of God and Adambeing reproduced in countless imitations. 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.

( 最後的審判 The Last Judgment )

西斯汀禮拜堂天花板壁畫完工 24 年之後，反對宗教改革的教皇保羅三世委託米開朗基羅為祭壇牆壁繪製一幅壁畫。當時，米開朗基羅正經歷著精神與信仰的危機，他選擇「最後的審判」這一主題展現他的痛苦。 「最後的審判」場面恢弘，人物眾多，分為天上、人間、地獄三個空間。這幅壁畫的中心主題是人生的戲劇，人注定要不斷背離上帝，罪孽深重，但終將得到拯救。由於牆壁面積廣大，要將大約 400 個人物安排在這一空間，必需有一種像旋風一樣的主要力量將整個空間結合成一體，米開朗基羅於是採用水平線與垂直線交叉的複雜結構。畫中人物盡量畫在水平面上並組成群體，同時隨著位置的升高，人群愈加密集，與此形成對比的是左側升入天堂和右側走向毀滅的畫面中突出的豎向運動。因此產生一種周而復始的活動，將上升與墮落的人群和掌握整個人群活動的中心人物，即審判者基督聯結在一起。 

米開朗基羅為了解決畫中人物在從下面仰視時所應呈現的比例這一難題，他將上面的人物畫得大些，底部的小些，以適應自下而上的觀賞效果。在 1541 年揭幕時，這幅獨自完成的巨作引起轟動。然而，巨作中的裸體人物卻引起爭議，一些人認為猥褻了神靈。在米開朗基羅剛去世不久，教皇庇護四世即下令給所有裸體人物畫上腰布或衣飾。受命的畫家們於是被謔稱為「內褲製造商」，不過這些「內褲」在 1980 ~ 1992 年之間，經過清理修護西斯汀禮拜堂的濕壁畫計畫之後又被清除了。

The Last Judgment, or The Last Judgement  (Italian: Il Giudizio Universale) is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo executed on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. It is a depiction of the Second Coming of Christ and the final and eternal judgment by God of all humanity. The souls of humans rise and descend to their fates, as judged by Christ surrounded by prominent saints  including Saints Catherine of Alexandria, Peter, Lawrence, Bartholomew, Paul, Sebastian, John the Baptist, and others.The work took four years to complete and was done between 1536 and 1541 (preparation of the altar wall began in 1535.) Michelangelo began working on it twenty five years after having finished the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. 

An older and more thoughtful Michelangelo originally accepted the commission for this important painting from Pope Clement VII. The original subject of the mural was the resurrection, but with the Pope's death, his successor, Pope Paul III, felt the Last Judgment was a more fitting subject for 1530s Rome and the judgmental impulses of the Counter-Reformation. While traditional medieval last judgments showed figures dressed according to their social positions, Michelangelo created a new standard. His groundbreaking concept of the event shows figures equalized in their nudity, stripped bare of rank. The artist portrayed the separation of the blessed and the damned by showing the saved ascending on the left and the damned descending on the right. The fresco is more monochromatic than the ceiling frescoes and is dominated by the tones of flesh and sky. The cleaning and restoration of the fresco, however, revealed a greater chromatic range than previously apparent. Orange, green, yellow, and blue are scattered throughout, animating and unifying the complex scene.

PS.『溼彩壁畫Fresco』的發展遍及義大利的所有地區，從十四世紀起，到文藝復興盛時的大畫家們所製作的都是此類的作品，由於溼彩壁畫是繪於建築牆面上的繪畫，因而具備了巨幅的規模，與建築物共存不朽的特質，於是在文藝復與時期成為繪畫的主要形式，而其它的形式像是只適於製作中小幅畫作的蛋彩畫﹙tempera﹚或是從北方傳入義大利已經成熟的油畫，都只是佔義大利繪畫的一小部分，直到16、17世紀，進入巴洛克時代，油畫才取代溼彩壁畫成為義大利繪畫繪畫的主要媒材。如喬托﹙Giotto﹚在帕多瓦﹙Padova﹚史克羅尼﹙Scrovegni﹚教堂的“聖母的一生”1302~1305年，是義大利早期文藝復與偉大的濕彩壁畫代表，而達文西“最後的晚餐” 1495~1497年，則是混合了多種材料卻不成功的壁畫；直到米開朗基羅繪製的“創世紀”1508~1512年和拉斐爾的“雅典學院”1509~1510年，為教宗簽署合約的辦公室裡一系列拱型牆面上濕壁畫的極致藝術之代表作品。

Fresco (plural frescos or frescoes) is a technique of mural painging  executed upon freshly laid lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the pigment  and, with the setting of the plaster, the painting becomes an integral part of the wall. The word fresco (Italian: affresco) is derived from the Italian Adjective fresco meaning "fresh". Fresco may thus be contrasted with secco mural painting techniques, on plasters of lime, earth, or gypsum, or applied to supplement painting in fresco. The fresco technique has been employed since antiquity and is closely associated with Italian Renaissance Painting.