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All his life Michelangelo professed to think of himself as a sculptor rather than a painter. In fact he was not a painter in the sense of such great artist as the Dutch and Flemish painters of the seventeenth century. Michelangelo used to say that sculpture was the lantern of panting, and the difference was like the sun and moon. Michelangelo believed sculpture required more judgment and precision, it was harder work. Even in his …

…sculpture; painting and architecture occurred only sporadically. He painted on behalf of three Renaissance popes, patrons too great to be refused, the Vatican: the vast ceiling the of Sistine Chapel, the Last Judgment on the altar wall of the chapel, and two mighty frescos in the Pauline Chapel. Other painters have covered as many square feet in fresco, but only Michelangelo conceived and created works of such power. He is the romantic independent of art.