The north wall tells the story of Jesus in a sequence of Renaissance frescoes commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV. These scenes face episodes from the life of Moses on the south wall, inviting viewers to consider the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. The surviving cycle begins with Christ’s baptism and continues through his ministry to the Last Supper.
Painted chiefly in 1481–1482 by Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Cosimo Rosselli with their workshops, the six principal frescoes combine several moments of a Gospel story within a single landscape or architectural setting. The additional images in this tour include close-up views of these larger paintings.
Pietro Perugino painted this fresco during the first great campaign of decoration under Sixtus IV, around 1481–1482. It opens the surviving sequence of Christ’s life on the north wall.
Jesus comes to John at the Jordan to be baptized. The Gospels describe the Spirit descending and the Father’s voice identifying Jesus as his beloved Son (Matthew 3:13–17). The scene marks the public beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
Perugino arranges the figures around the baptism in a spacious landscape. The ordered groups, gentle distances, and clear central action make the Gospel event easy to follow despite the many accompanying figures.
Sandro Botticelli painted the Temptations of Christ for the north wall in the early 1480s. The fresco belongs to the same coordinated campaign as the facing stories of Moses.
After his baptism, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1–11). Botticelli brings several moments of the account together, presenting Jesus’ faithfulness in contrast to the tempter’s demands.
Botticelli uses continuous narrative: separate episodes unfold across one painted space. The architectural setting and richly dressed figures invite close study beyond the central temptation story.
Domenico Ghirlandaio painted the Calling of the Apostles in the early 1480s as part of the chapel’s original Gospel cycle.
Jesus calls Peter and Andrew to follow him and become fishers of men; the calling of James and John appears elsewhere in the same composition (Matthew 4:18–22).
Ghirlandaio balances a broad landscape with expressive groups of people. The calling takes place within an expansive scene that connects the apostles’ response with the world around them.
Details of this artwork
Calling of the First Apostles (detail)Calling of the First ApostlesCalling of the Apostles (detail)
Cosimo Rosselli and his workshop painted the Sermon on the Mount during the chapel’s late-fifteenth-century decorative campaign.
The fresco brings together Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) and his healing of a man with leprosy (Matthew 8:1–4). His words and deeds appear side by side.
Rosselli combines teaching and healing within a landscape crowded with listeners. The two episodes encourage the viewer to move through the image rather than read it as a single instant.
This image shows Perugino’s Christ Handing the Keys to Peter, one of the principal frescoes of the north-wall cycle, completed around 1481–1482.
Jesus tells Peter that he will give him the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:13–20). The image became especially important within the chapel’s program of papal authority.
Perugino places the exchange of the keys before a grand paved square, a central domed building, and receding architecture. The balanced perspective gives the event ceremonial weight.
Cosimo Rosselli and his workshop painted the Last Supper as the final surviving principal scene of the north-wall Gospel sequence.
At his final meal with the disciples, Jesus speaks of betrayal and of the covenant associated with his approaching death (Matthew 26:17–29). The fresco also includes episodes of the Passion beyond the room.
Rosselli stages the meal within a formal interior and adds smaller Passion scenes beyond it. The composition joins the intimacy of the supper to the events that will follow.
