Giuliano Bugiardini moved to the studio of Fra Bartolomeo. He completed certain works left unfinished by Fra Bartolomeo when he died. Some years later in Rome, while at work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo sought Giuliano Bugiardini's services but later rejected them. Vasari mentioned Bugiardini assisted Michelangelo very briefly in 1508 with the painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He painted a "Martyrdom of St Catherine" for Santa Maria Novella in Florence, based on Michelangelo's sketches. He also painted in Bologna in 1526–1530. His earliest known works of between 1495 and 1500 show the influence of his
Sistine Chapel ceiling God, he was swallowed by a "mighty fish". He spent three days in its belly and was eventually spewed up on dry land where he went about God's business. Jonah was thus seen as presaging Jesus, who having died by crucifixion, spent part of three days in a tomb and was raised on the third day. So, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Jonah, with the "great fish" beside him and his eyes turned towards God the Creator, represents a "portent" of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. The Jonah figure placed right over the altar activated the Passion