Sistine Chapel ceiling painted in only two days. The Eleazar and Mathan picture contains two figures with a wealth of costume detail that is not present in any other lunette. Prior to restoration, of all the paintings in the Sistine Chapel, the lunettes and spandrels were the dirtiest. Added to this, there has always been a problem of poor daytime visibility of the panels nearest the windows because of "halination". Consequently, they were the least well known of all Michelangelo's publicly accessible works. The recent restoration has made these masterly studies of human nature and inventive depiction of the human form known once
Sistine Chapel ceiling cleanly defined outlines make each subject easily visible from the floor. Despite the height of the ceiling, the proportions of the "Creation of Adam" are such that when standing beneath it, "it appears as if the viewer could simply raise a finger and meet those of God and Adam". Vasari tells us that the ceiling is "unfinished", that its unveiling occurred before it could be reworked with gold leaf and vivid blue lapis lazuli as was customary with frescoes and in order to better link the ceiling with the walls below it which were highlighted with a great deal of