MICHELANGELO Buonarroti: Frescoes above the altar wall

Depicting the Last Judgment, this monumental composition abandons the serene Renaissance ideals of his earlier ceiling work, instead presenting a turbulent vision of divine justice with writhing human figures caught between salvation and damnation. The work marked a dramatic shift toward Mannerism, influencing generations of artists and cementing Michelangelo's legacy as a painter capable of conveying profound theological concepts through raw human emotion and anatomical mastery.