Michelangelo's Hidden Colors

In 1980, a team of restorers climbed scaffolding in the Sistine Chapel to begin one of the most controversial art restorations in history. For nearly five centuries, candle soot, animal glue applied by earlier restorers, and layers of grime had darkened Michelangelo's frescoes. The world had grown accustomed to a somber, muted ceiling — brooding tones, figures half-lost in shadow.

Then the restorers began peeling back the veil.

Panel by panel, brilliant colors emerged — vivid pinks, electric greens, luminous oranges no one alive had ever seen. The prophet Jeremiah's robe blazed in saffron. The Delphic Sibyl's cloak shimmered in turquoise. Critics protested, insisting the dark version was the "real" Michelangelo. But the restorers knew the truth. What generations had accepted as authentic was merely accumulation — centuries of grime obscuring the master's original glory.

Paul tells the Corinthians that when anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. We behold God's glory with unveiled faces, and we are transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to another. How many of us have grown so accustomed to the soot — the careful performances, the curated selves we present — that we have forgotten what the Master's original work looks like? The Almighty never intended us to live behind darkened layers. The glory was always there, waiting to be uncovered.