o a less huge project, painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo was annoyed for several reasons. First, he was primarily a sculptor. His only significant painting experience at the time had been when he was a teenage apprentice of Ghirlandaio. Second, ceilings in churches and chapels were minor compared to the walls, which in the case of the Sistine Chapel, had been frescoed thirty years before by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, and other distinguished painters. And third, art on ceilings was awkward to paint and to be seen by the public. (He had to stand on the scaffolding with his head
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