Michelangelo never wanted to paint the Sistine Chapel, a historian claimed.
The Italian artist – who lived a “long and miserable” life – actually “loathed” painting and wanted to sculpt instead.
But he was forced to paint the ceiling of the chapel in Vatican City, Rome, by “stalker” Pope Julius II who wanted to “punish” him for trying to flee the Italian capital, according to Ada Palmer, an American historian.
Ms Palmer told the BBC’s History Extra podcast that Michelangelo “hated painting and never wanted to paint the stupid Sistine Chapel.”
She added: “That was a punishment because he ran away from the stalker pope. And the stalker pope was like: ‘I’m going to punish this man, I know he just wants to sculpt, so I’m going to make him paint for two years.’
“He [Michelangelo] always hated painting. If he had a bumper sticker, it would be, ‘I’d rather be sculpting,’ right? This man spoke the language of rocks.”
Pope Julius II ordered Michelangelo to paint the chapel as a punishment for attempting to flee Rome, said Ms Palmer – Photo Josse/Leemage/Corbis Historical
Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel between 1508 and 1512.
The building was built between 1473 and 1481 and is the most famous chapel inside the Vatican, as it is the site of the papal ceremonies.
Ms Palmer, who teaches in the history department at the University of Chicago, told the podcast: “Pope Julius II was obsessed with Michelangelo and wanted Michelangelo to build him this incredibly giant tomb, which would have been like the largest tomb ever made with something like 30 life-size monumental statues of prisoners chained to the base of it with the triumphant warrior pope on top.
“And Michelangelo kept getting more and more frustrated with Julius and just wanted to go home to Florence and sculpt.
“And he’d come to Rome hoping to gain fame as a young man in his very early 20s. And he’d done some good work there, the famous Pietà.
“But Michelangelo was commissioned to do this impossible tomb and then things went wrong – the marble wasn’t there. The Pope kept being a jerk, he got more and more frustrated.”
The author said Michelangelo did not want to live in Rome as he “hated” it there, and so tried to run away to Florence.
She added: “The Pope sent guards to chase him down and seize him by force and drag him out of the inn.
“There was a confrontation between them and the Florentine militia people. They ended up protecting him. He went to Florence.
“The Pope was like, ‘I’m going to besiege Florence, I’m going to send my armies there right now, send me Michelangelo’.”
The historian said Michelangelo was then returned to Rome, adding: “The Pope makes him paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling because he knows he’ll hate that.”
She said the artist, who died aged 88 in 1564, lived a “very long and miserable life”.
