Michaelangelos last frescoes, depicting the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul in the Vatican's Paolina Chapel, have now been restored to their former glory. The laborious and delicate restoration, however, has aroused echoes of the controversy that surrounded the famous restoration of the Sistine Chapel, due to the decision to leave some key later additions.
After much debate, restorers decided not to remove the clumsy loincloth that was applied by later artists to cover the nudity of the Apostle Peter, which had offended the prudish Pope Paul III. Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museum, explained that: We decided to leave it because it is part of history.
Michaelangelo painted the Crucifixion of St. Peter and the Conversion of Saul (St. Paul) for Pope Benedict XVI between 1542 and 1550, when he was well into his seventies and the frescoes were completed by Lorenzo Sabbatini and Federico Zuccari. The veil masking St. Peter's private parts was added some years after the maestro's death.
The restoration took seven years and cost an estimated 3 million.
