What was the original subject planned for the Sistine Chapel ceiling before Michelangelo changed it?

The original subject planned for the Sistine Chapel ceiling was the Twelve Apostles.

Pope Julius II’s initial commission called for twelve large apostolic figures to be painted in the triangular spandrels supporting the chapel’s vault. Michelangelo, who considered himself primarily a sculptor rather than a painter, negotiated for a much more ambitious design and was eventually allowed substantial freedom over the imagery.

He replaced the relatively limited plan with a vast theological program. At its center are nine scenes from Genesis, including the Creation of Adam, the Creation of Eve, the Flood, and Noah’s drunkenness. Around them are prophets, sibyls, ancestors of Christ, ignudi, and scenes portraying the salvation of Israel.

The Life of Moses and the Life of Christ were already represented on the chapel’s walls, so the ceiling’s Genesis cycle created a broader biblical sequence rather than simply repeating those subjects. Michelangelo painted the ceiling between 1508 and 1512. The Last Judgment, another famous Michelangelo work in the chapel, was painted later on the altar wall and was not the original ceiling plan.