The composition stretches over 500 square metres of ceiling and contains over 300 figures.

Michelangelo's Pietà depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the Crucifixion. If you look closely, the sculptor's signature can be found across Mary's chest. Michelangelo later regretted the vanity of this act, and resolved never to sign another piece of his work.

According to Condivi's account, the Italian architect Donato Bramante resented Michelangelo's success and convinced the pope to commission him in a medium with which he was unfamiliar, in order that he might fail at the task.

Michelangelo ignored the usual artistic conventions in portraying Jesus, showing him as a massive, muscular figure, youthful, beardless and naked.

The Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana is a historical library in Florence, Italy, containing a repository of more than 11,000 manuscripts. The library is renowned for the architecture planned and built by Michelangelo.

Not long after Michelangelo completed The Last Judgment, the Council of Trent condemned nudity in religious art, decreeing that "all lasciviousness be avoided". Clement's successor, Pope Pius IV, complied with the tenet, and in 1565, the year after Michelangelo's death, had the more controversial nudity painted over by Daniele da Volterra, earning the artist the nickname Il Braghetonne, or "the breeches-maker."

The Madonna of the Steps is Michelangelo's earliest known work. While the Madonna is in profile, the easiest aspect for a shallow relief, the child displays a twisting motion that was to become characteristic of Michelangelo's work.

The Sistine Chapel ceiling was painted between 1508 and 1512, while Michelangelo was in his thirties.

The Prophet Jeremiah, contemplating the downfall of Jerusalem, is an image of the artist himself.

Cecchino Bracci was a pupil of Michelangelo's. He died at the age of sixteen and is buried in Santa Maria in Aracoeli, in a tomb designed by Michelangelo himself.