How long did it take michelangelo to finish the sistine chapel?

Michelangelo began work on his famous frescoed ceiling in 1508. He worked for four years. It was so physically taxing that it permanently damaged his eyesight. More than 20 years later, Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint the giant fresco "The Last Judgment" behind the altar. The artist, then in his 60s, painted it from 1536 to 1541.