Sistine Chapel ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. At the outset, the plaster, "intonaco", began to grow mold because it was too wet. Michelangelo had to remove it and start again. He then tried a new formula created by one of his assistants, Jacopo l'Indaco, which resisted mold and entered the Italian building tradition. Because he was painting "fresco", the plaster was laid in a new section every day, called a "giornata". At the beginning of each session, the edges would be scraped away and a new area laid down. The edges between "giornate" remain slightly visible; thus, they give a good idea of
The Birth of Venus Politian speaks of Zephyr causing flowers to bloom, and spreading their scent over the land, which probably explains the roses he blows along with him in the painting. Having a large standing female nude as the central focus was unprecedented in post-classical Western painting, and certainly drew on the classical sculptures which were coming to light in this period, especially in Rome, where Botticelli had spent 1481–82 working on the walls of the Sistine Chapel. The pose of Botticelli's "Venus" follows the Venus Pudica ("Venus of Modesty") type from classical antiquity, where the hands are held to cover the breasts