Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence) - Frescos inside the dome  

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"Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence) - Frescos inside the dome"[1][2] are a series of frescoes in the Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, executed by Giorgio Vasari & Federico Zuccari.

Background

Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici decided to have the dome painted with a representation of The Last Judgment. This enormous work, 3,600 metres² (38 750 ft²) of painted surface, was started in 1568 by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari and would last till 1579. The upper portion, near the lantern, representing The 24 Elders of Apoc. 4 was finished by Vasari before his death in 1574. Federico Zuccari and a number of collaborators, such as Domenico Cresti, finished the other portions: (from top to bottom) Choirs of Angels; Christ, Mary and Saints; Virtues, Gifts of the Holy Spirit and Beatitudes; and at the bottom of the cuppola: Capital Sins and Hell.

These frescoes are considered Zuccari's greatest work. But the quality of the work is uneven because of the input of different artists and the different techniques. Vasari had used true fresco, while Zuccari had painted in secco.

Restoration

During the restoration work ended in 1995, the entire pictorial cycle of the The Last Judgment was photographed with specially designed equipment and all the information collected in a catalogue. All the restoration information along with reconstructed images of the frescos were stored and managed in the Thesaurus Florentinus computer system.

Last judgment

There are sections for each of the sins, and lots of grotesque details, for example, there are flayed anatomies of sitting figures, with their scrotums removed and testicles hanging down on the cords.

• 'Punishment of Lust'[3]