History of Rome During this twenty-year period Rome became the greatest centre of art in the world. The old St. Peter's Basilica was demolished and a new one begun. The city hosted artists like Bramante, who built the Temple of San Pietro in Montorio and planned a great project to renovate the Vatican; Raphael, who in Rome became the most famous painter in Italy, creating frescos in the Cappella Niccolina, the Villa Farnesina, the Raphael's Rooms, and many other famous paintings. Michelangelo began the decoration of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and executed the famous statue of Moses for the tomb of
Descent from Mount Sinai (Sistine Chapel) it: the position of some of them, painted from behind, was usually used for negative characters, such as Judas Iscariot in the "Last Supper". Once seeing that, Moses, in the center, gets angry and breaks the Tables on the ground. On the right background is the punishment of the idolatrous and the receiving of the new Tables. Joshua, in the blue and yellow, appears with Moses. Descent from Mount Sinai (Sistine Chapel) The Descent from Mount Sinai is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Cosimo Rosselli and his assistants, executed in 1481–1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Rome.