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Sixtus IV’s Sistine Chapel programme includes Botticelli frescoes of Moses and Christ scenes

In 1481–82 Botticelli’s shop frescoed assigned bays of the Sistine Chapel for Sixtus IV, including Moses and Christ narratives still in the Vatican Museums’ chapel.

Sources: [1][2]

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In 1481–82 Botticelli’s shop frescoed assigned bays of the Sistine Chapel for Sixtus IV, including Moses and Christ narratives still in the Vatican Museums’ chapel. This Fact is that papal-wall instrument, not Primavera and not a later ticket office.

Context

A Vatican narrative cycle is a public teaching wall inside a papal chapel. Workshop execution is shared.

Sandro Botticelli’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below.

Called to Rome 1481–82 with Ghirlandaio, Rosselli, and others. Surviving walls include the Temptation of Christ, Trials of Moses, and Punishment of the Rebels. Assistants gessoed. The pope paid. This is not Michelangelo’s later ceiling.

Why it matters

Confidence high on the commission and survival.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

No public driver impacts are listed for this fact.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Met Heilbrunn — BotticelliMetropolitan Museum of Art · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Vatican Museums — Sistine ChapelVatican Museums · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Vatican Museums Sistine pages and Met Heilbrunn independently describe Botticelli’s 1481–82 chapel frescoes.

Established: 1481–82 Sistine narrative frescoes under his heading. Not established: a unique pilgrimage series from these three bays.

Sandro Botticelli did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. A Sistine bay is not a stanze philosophy wall. Neighbouring Raphael rooms are a later shop.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

No causal path is recorded: this fact is not linked to a driver.

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Sixtus IV’s Sistine Chapel programme includes Botticelli frescoes of Moses and Christ scenes. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/sb-sistine-frescoes-1481

https://factrail.ai/facts/sb-sistine-frescoes-1481

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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