In the early 1500s, Michelangelo created both the Sistine Chapel Ceiling Frescoes (1508-1512) and the Last Judgement (1535-1541).

The ceiling was made using the fresco technique, which is when the mural is painted on wet plaster. It gives a bright sort of glow to the colors, of which there are a variety — though mainly focused around soft reds and blues. The ceiling shows a series of interconnecting narratives that come together to create a basic outline of the Bible. The figures on the ceiling, as well as in the Last Judgement, are all nudes, painted because Michelangelo enjoyed showing the human form in the way he thought was most accurate and natural — how we were born — a.k.a. in the nude. The Sistine Chapel Frescoes depict wonderful narrative paintings, from the creation of man, to the fall of man, and many stops in between. He uses deep allegory and icons — such as clothing, posture, animals, etc. — to tell a story with incredibly complex, highly organized symbolism. The four triangular scenes on top and bottom depict unidentified biblical characters; between each of these triangular spandrels is a scene depicting a biblical allegory, and in the center is the narrative of the fall of man. The figures are all all drawn in incredible detail, with perfectly proportioned and rendered musculature. Their postures are highly expressive, and often depict figures in the middle of an action

The emphasis on movement and exaggeration of the human form are much more apparent and predominant in the Last Judgement. The scene of the Last Judgement is also a monumental, single narrative, whereas the ceiling shows a continuous narrative through many scenes. The other interesting difference between the two is that in the Last judgement, Michelangelo seems to be creating figures with excessive muscles, almost to the point of being unreal; this idea of showing every single muscle in the human body became very important to Michelangelo. In addition to the over-detail of musculature, by including the slipping-off of clothing, Michelangelo calls upon the viewer to remember their own approaching mortality; to consider the unity we can find in our destiny to end up naked, cold, having passed on.

The nudes of both the ceiling and the Last Judgement were covered up by the church at one point or another. This was because of the Reformation, and the idea that religious figures should not be depicted in such a way. Interestingly enough, in the recent decades, extensive cleaning commenced on both the ceiling and the Last Judgement. This deep cleaning allowed the figures, then covered with ill-fitting, out of place covers, to be free nudes yet again. The differences in the renderings of the figures between the ceiling and the Last Judgement (painted about 20 years apart) shows the evolution of the artist’s work; from very realistically muscular, though more relaxed figures, to the figures with bulging, strained, working muscles. This signifies a general switch in Michelangelo's artistic attitude: from a focus on the symbolism and gesture of figure, to a focus on the relationship between different narrative figures existing in a single pictoral space.