Thanks to some social sharing, discovered this amazing virtual look at the Sistine Chapel. And reading about it on Wikipedia, discovered some interesting as well as funny facts about the paintings. Thought I should share…

• The giant frescoes were painted by some of the greatest Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini, and Sandro Botticelli.
• Michaelangelo resented the commission and in the painting, The Last Judgement he did a self portrait depicting himself as St. Bartholomew after he had been skinned alive. This is said to be reflective of his feelings of contempt!
• The painting, The Last Judgment was accused of immorality and intolerable obscenity by Cardinal Carafa, having depicted naked figures, with genitals in evidence, inside the most important church of Christianity. The Pope’s own Master of Ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena, also called it disgraceful and said that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather “for the public baths and taverns”. Michelangelo, upon hearing this, worked Cesena’s face into the scene as Minos, judge of the underworld with Donkey ears! The genitalia in the fresco were covered 24 years later by the artist Daniele da Volterra, whom history remembers by the derogatory nickname “Il Braghettone” (“the breeches-painter”).
• When the fresco was restored in 1993, half of the censorship by Volterra was removed. It was also discovered that the fresco of Biagio de Cesena as Minos with donkey ears was being bitten in the genitalia by a coiled snake!

That man surely had a sense of humour!