On the pillars between the windows are the figures of twenty-eight popes, by Sandro Botticelli.

"Vasari says that the two works of Luca Signorelli surpass in beauty all those which surround them,—an assertion which is at least questionable as far as regards the frescoes of Perugino; but with respect to all the rest, the superiority of Signorelli is evident, even to the most inexperienced eye. The subject of the first picture is the journey of Moses and Zipporah into Egypt: the landscape is charming, although evidently ideal; there is great depth in the aërial perspective; and in the various groups scattered over the different parts of the picture there are female forms of such beauty, that they may have afforded models to Raphael. The same graceful treatment is also perceptible in the representation of the death of Moses, the mournful details of which have given scope to the poetical imagination of the artist. The varied group to whom Moses has just read the Law for the last time, the sorrow of Joshua, who is kneeling before the man of God, the charming landscape, with the river Jordan threading its way between the mountains, which are made singularly beautiful, as if to explain the regrets of Moses when the angel announces to him that he will not enter into the promised land—all form a series of melancholy scenes perfectly in harmony with one another, the only defect being that the whole is crowded into too small a space."—Rio. Poetry of Christian Art.

The avenue of pictures is a preparation for the surpassing grandeur of the ceiling:

"The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel contains the most perfect works done by Michael Angelo in his long and active life. Here his great spirit appears in its noblest dignity, in its highest purity; here the attention is not disturbed by that arbitrary display to which his great power not unfrequently seduced him in other works. The ceiling forms a flattened arch in its section; the central portion, which is a plain surface, contains a series of large and small pictures, representing the most important events recorded in the book of Genesis—the Creation and Fall of Man, with its immediate consequences. In the large triangular compartments at the springing of the vault, are sitting figures of the prophets and sibyls, as the foretellers of the coming of the Saviour. In the soffits of the recesses between these compartments, and in the arches underneath, immediately above the windows, are the ancestors of the Virgin, the series leading the mind directly to the Saviour. The external connection of these numerous representations is formed by an architectural framework of peculiar composition, which encloses the single subjects, tends to make the principal masses conspicuous, and gives to the whole an appearance of that solidity and support so necessary, but so seldom attended to, in soffit decorations, which may be considered as if suspended. A great number of figures are also connected with the framework; those in unimportant situations are executed in the colour of stone or bronze; in the more important, in natural colours. These serve to support the architectural forms, to fill up and to connect the whole. They may be best described as the living and embodied genii of architecture. It required the unlimited power of an architect, sculptor, and painter, to conceive a structural whole of so much grandeur, to design the decorative figures with the significant repose required by the sculpturesque character, and yet to preserve their subordination to the principal subjects, and to keep the latter in the proportions and relations best adapted to the space to be filled."—Kugler, p. 301.

The pictures from the Old Testament, beginning from the altar, are:

1. The Separation of Light and Darkness.
2. The Creation of the Sun and Moon.
3. The Creation of Trees and Plants.
4. The Creation of Adam.
5. The Creation of Eve.
6. The Fall and the Expulsion from Paradise.
7. The Sacrifice of Noah.
8. The Deluge.
9. The Intoxication of Noah.

"The scenes from Genesis are the most sublime representations of these subjects;—the Creating Spirit is unveiled before us. The peculiar type which the painter has here given of the form of the Almighty Father has been frequently imitated by his followers, and even by Raphael, but has been surpassed by none. Michael Angelo has represented him in majestic flight, sweeping through the air, surrounded by genii, partly supporting, partly borne along with him, covered by his floating drapery; they are the distinct syllables, the separate virtues of his creating word. In the first (large) compartment we see him with extended hands, assigning to the sun and moon their respective paths. In the second, he awakens the first man to life. Adam lies stretched on the verge of the earth, in the act of raising himself; the Creator touches him with the point of his finger, and appears thus to endow him with feeling and life. This picture displays a wonderful depth of thought in the composition, and the utmost elevation and majesty in the general treatment and execution. The third subject is not less important, representing the Fall of Man and his Expulsion from Paradise. The tree of knowledge stands in the midst, the serpent (the upper part of the body being that of a woman) is twined around the stem; she bends down towards the guilty pair, who are in the act of plucking the forbidden fruit. The figures are nobly graceful, particularly that of Eve. Close to the serpent hovers the angel with the sword, ready to drive the fallen beings out of Paradise. In this double action, this union of two separate moments, there is something peculiarly poetic and significant: it is guilt and punishment in one picture. The sudden and lightning-like appearance of the avenging angel behind the demon of darkness has a most impressive effect."—Kugler, p. 304.

"It was the seed of Eve that was to bruise the serpent's head. Hence it is that Michael Angelo made the Creation of Eve the central subject on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He had the good taste to suggest, and yet to avoid, that literal rendering of the biblical story which in the ruder representations borders on the grotesque, and which Milton, with all his pomp of words, could scarcely idealise."—Mrs. Jameson, Hist. of Our Lord.

The lower portion of the ceiling is divided into triangles occupied by the Prophets and Sibyls in solemn contemplation, accompanied by angels and genii. Beginning from the left of the entrance, their order is,—

1. Jonah.
2. Jeremiah. 7. Sibylla Libyca.
3. Sibylla Persica. 8. Daniel.
4. Ezekiel. 9. Sibylla Cumæa.
5. Sibylla Erythræa. 10. Isaiah.
6. Joel. 11. Sibylla Delphica.
12. Zachariah.