“The Vatican is hoping to raise £2m to fund the restoration of Michelangelo’s last two frescos, which are hidden from the public in a chapel where the Pope prays and reads mass to private audiences. The frescos – the Crucifixion of St Peter and the Conversion of St Paul – are faded after being exposed to dust and soot over centuries of candlelit prayer in the Pauline chapel, close to the better-known Sistine chapel. As the artist’s last paintings, the two six-sq-metre frescos are considered among the most important masterpieces in the Vatican’s care. When they were last restored, in the 1930s, several cracks were repaired.”