Sacred succession: Michelangelo's medallions in Renaissance Rome

The current body of scholarship concerning the ten bronze medallions on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel provides a detailed discussion of the Old Testament imagery depicted as well as theories on their relation to the overall fresco program. Building on this iconology as well as the original patron's emulation of King Solomon, the following thesis proposes that the Sistine Ceiling medallions also reference the First Temple, built by Solomon, in ancient Jerusalem. It will be argued that, together with the Chapel's dimensions and the inscription on Pietro Perugino's Delivery of the Keys fresco panel, the medallions were intended to proclaim the commissioning patron's Solomonic role in the succession of Rome over Jerusalem as the religious capital of the world.