built in the pontificate of Urban VIII., from the design of Bernini. The first flight is composed of Ionic columns, the second of pilasters. The ornamental stucco work is from the designs of Algardi. The equestrian statue of Constantine is by Bernini. On the first landing, a passage leads to a small flight of steps. _At the top, on the right, through a small red baize door, is the entrance to_ THE SISTINE CHAPEL, built by Sixtus IV. in 1473. It is celebrated for its paintings in fresco by Michael Angelo; the roof alone occupied twenty months in the painting. THE ROOF.--On the flat part are nine compartments illustrative of--(1) The Separation of Light from Darkness; (2) Creation of the Sun and Moon; (3) Land and Sea; (4) Adam; (5) Eve; (6) the Fall and Expulsion (the figure of Eve is considered to be the most perfect painting of the female form in existence); (7) the Sacrifice of Noah; (8) the Deluge; (9) Noah inebriated. These are bordered by sitting figures of prophets and sibyls: _over the altar_, Jonah; _on the left_, Joel, the Sibyl Erithræa, Ezekiel, the Sibyl Persica, Jeremiah and Zechariah; _on the right_, the Sibyl Lybica, Daniel, the Sibyl Cumæa, Isaiah, and the Sibyl Delphica. In the four corners are--Moses lifting up the Brazen Serpent, King Artaxerxes, Esther and Haman, David and Goliath, Judith and Holofernes. In the arches over the windows, and in the recesses, Genealogy of Christ from Abraham to Joseph. THE WALLS.--Behind the altar is the great fresco of Michael Angelo, representing the Last Judgment, designed by him when in his sixtieth year, and completed in eight years (1540). _At the top_ is our Saviour, with the Virgin seated on his right, above angels bearing the instruments of the passion. _On one side_ of our Lord are saints and patriarchs, and on the other martyrs. _Below_, a group of angels sounding the last trump and bearing the books of judgment. _On the right_ is represented the fall of the condemned; Charon ferrying some of them across the river Styx, striking the tumultuous with his oar. The figure in the right-hand corner, representing Midas with ass's ears, is Messer Biagio of Casena, the Pope's master of the ceremonies, who said the nude figures were indecent; on which account the Pope ordered Daniele da Volterra to cover them with drapery, which obtained for him the cognomen of _Braghettone_ (breeches-maker). Michael Angelo said, "Let the Pope reform the world, and the pictures will reform themselves." And to spite Biagio, he represented him in hell, whereat he complained to the Pope in order to have his figure removed. The Pope replied that as he was in hell he must stop there, as he had no power to release from hell, but from purgatory! _On the left_, the blessed are ascending to heaven assisted by angels and saints.