ART

Some clothes belatedly painted onto naked bodies in Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment” in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel could come off during a restoration project, returning the work to what the artist originally intended. Michelangelo painted “The Last Judgment,” conceived as a warning to the unfaithful, above the altar between 1535 and 1541, filling the huge fresco with writhing naked bodies. Veils were painted over the hips of about 30 figures on the orders of Pope Pius IV later in the 16th Century. These cannot be removed because the artist used the same fresco technique as Michelangelo. The garments scheduled to come off were painted onto the figures when the work was touched up in the 18th Century. Restoration to Michelangelo’s frescoes in the chapel has been under way since 1980. It will take about four years to clean “The Last Judgment,” the final phase of the project.