Art & Culture · 2

In which major fresco in the Sistine Chapel did Michelangelo reportedly hide his own face on the figure of Satan?

Answer

The Last Judgment

Michelangelo's 'The Last Judgment', painted on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel between 1536 and 1541, contains a self-portrait hidden in the face of Satan — a daring and subversive act of artistic ego embedded in a sacred commission.

💡 Did you know?

Michelangelo deliberately carved his own face into Satan's chin in the Sistine Chapel's Last Judgment, hiding a self-portrait in Hell.

Other options people guess

  • The Creation of Adam
  • The Fall and Expulsion from Garden of Eden
  • The Deluge

Topics

  • michelangelo
  • sistine-chapel
  • fresco
  • renaissance
  • self-portrait

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