International Classics

During the Italian Renaissance, Pope Julius II contracts the influential artist Michelangelo to sculpt 40 statues for his tomb. When the pope changes his mind and asks the sculptor to paint a mural in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo doubts his painting skills and abandons the project. Divine inspiration returns Michelangelo to the mural, but his artistic vision clashes with the pope's demanding personality and threatens the success of the historic painting.

This short, a prologue to the feature film The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), focuses on Michelangelo’s life and his many famous frescoes and sculptures. After a short visit to Caprese, where the artist was born, and the town where he first studied his craft, we see many of his most important works. They include the Madonna of the Stairs, completed at age 15; the statues of the Medici Tombs; and his two most famous Biblical figures: David and Moses.