Sixtus IV

The coup was the work of rival Florentine families, especially the Pazzis, as well as Pope Sixtus IV, a sworn Medici foe.

The real Sistine Chapel in the Vatican gets its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and 1481.

Instead, this edition was dedicated to Pope Sixtus IV.

It is believed this is the first time that the chapel, which was built by Pope Sixtus IV starting in 1473, has been leased out to a company for a private event.

In his De Sanguine Christi, published in 1474, Pope Sixtus IV described the Shroud, ‘preserved with great devotion by the Dukes of Savoy’, as ‘coloured with the blood of Christ’.