The Delivery of the Keys

Look at the two triumphal arches at either end of the great square. They are modelled on the Arch of Constantine in Rome, and between them they carry a Latin inscription for the pope who built this chapel. Read together, it says that Solomon consecrated the immense Temple of Jerusalem and Sixtus IV consecrated this one, unequal to Solomon in wealth but ahead of him in religion. The temple meant is the Sistine Chapel itself, the room this fresco decorates.

Perugino painted the wall in 1481 and 1482. In the foreground Christ hands Saint Peter the keys of heaven, one gold and one silver, with the apostles around them and, at the edges, men in the dress of 15th-century Rome, portraits of people close to the papal court. One of them, fifth from the right edge, is traditionally taken to be Perugino himself.

Far behind, across the wide paved square, two smaller scenes play out. On the left Christ tells Peter to pay the temple tax, and on the right a crowd moves to stone him. Between them stands a domed building with eight sides, Perugino's image of the Temple, with the arches of Constantine on either side.