"The Creation of Adam" Michelangelo. 1511

The celebrated mural painting known as The Creation of Adam is one of a series of Biblical images from the Book of Genesis, which were commissioned by Pope Julius II from Michelangelo, for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, Rome. Seen as a key work of the Renaissance in Rome, its status as an iconic work of religious art is unrivalled, indeed, some art critics consider it to be Christianity's greatest pictorial work. Originally, the design for these Sistine Chapel frescoes was limited to the Twelve Apostles, together with a few other decorative works. But, as he began work, Michelangelo enlarged the whole concept, and by the time he finished in October 1512, he had painted more than 300 figures from the Book of Genesis and other Old Testament stories, as well as Classical mythology. In total, the decorations on the Sistine Chapel ceiling took him four years to complete, most of which he spent working in adverse conditions on a 60-foot high scaffold. What's more, he was principally a sculptor, though with some knowledge of paintingtempera on panels (Tondo Doni 1504-6, Uffizi), and his practical expertise in the difficult art of true fresco was extremely limited. Despite all this, his Sistine ceiling - known as the Genesis Fresco - of which The Creation of Adam is the central work - is regarded as the quintessential expression of Renaissance art and one of the finest Renaissance paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries.