Michelangelo Buonarroti's "The Creation of Adam" ceiling fresco has been parodiednote in so many fictional works that it has its own trope: Sistine Steal. Here are listed straight referencesnote to it and the various other artworks found in the Sistine Chapel, as well as works that feature it as a setting.
Anime & Manga
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Golden Wind: Polpo has several well-known paintings in his cell, quotes Thomas Fuller while explaining the conditions of his test, and his only regret about being imprisoned is that he can't visit the Sistine Chapel.
- Stone Ocean: The Creation of Adam appears for a brief moment near the end of the story, crumbling apart as Pucci's Made In Heaven is accelerating time, leading to the subsequent recreation of the universe.
Films — Live-Action
- The Agony and the Ecstasy: It's about the creation of the ceiling by Michelangelo (Charlton Heston) and the artist's conflict with Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison).
- The Creation of Adam was famously used in the opening credits of Ben-Hur (1959).
- Referenced in Good Will Hunting. Sean tells Will what he's gotten out of reading books is nothing compared to the life that's around him, and one of the examples he uses is while Will hasn't traveled outside of Boston, Sean, among other things, went and saw the real Sistine Chapel.
- Sin: At the beginning of the film, Michelangelo (Alberto Testone) is not satisfied at all with what he painted despite nearing completion and even suggests completely redoing it, and his rivalry with Raphael Sanzio doesn't really help. Fortunately, Pope Julius II loves the result and Michelangelo then moves on to his next work, the statues of Julius' tomb.
- In Six Degrees of Separation, Ouisa tells Paul how she and Flan visited the Sistine Chapel when it was being restored, and the painters encouraged her to reach up and touch the painting. Later, after she's walked out on Flan, possibly for good, she remembers that moment and touches a store awning the same way she touched the ceiling of the chapel.
Literature
- The chapel appears in Angels & Demons (both the book and the film).
Live-Action TV
- The Last Judgement is at the center of the live show Universal Judgment: Michelangelo and the Secrets of the Sistine Chapel
.
Theater
- Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto: The play shows cardinals meeting in the chapel in 1491-92. The ceiling is shown with the pattern of stars that it had before Michelangelo, but later, during a moment of crisis, Anti-Villain Giuliano della Rovere sings a song where he has a vision of the frescoes he would someday have Michelangelo paint there. The scene ends with him reaching out a hand to a giant projection of the famous hands of God and Adam.
Video Games
- Assassin's Creed II: The final sequence has Assassin Ezio Auditore enacting his revenge on the Grand Master of the Templar order, who's none other than Rodrigo Borgia/Pope Alexander VI, in the middle of a high mass in the Sistine Chapel in the year 1499. True to history, the chapel's ceiling is empty, as Michelangelo didn't start working on it until 1508.
Western Animation
- Animaniacs: "Hooked on a Ceiling" has the Warners taking over the job of painting the Sistine Chapel from Michaelangelo. They paint "The Creation of Adam" with E.T. and Elliot, which ends up pleasing "His Emminence" — Steven Spielberg himself.
- Villainous: Black Hot built his own base only by himself and created (again only by himself) a picture of himself and Black Hat and Co. similar to "The Creation of Adam" by Michelangelo Buonarroti.
