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The design clearly leans heavily on Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling. Raphael created variations on Michelangelo's thrones of the seers and their attendant figures. The prophets and sibyls were transformed into popes; the genii of the seers became angels as throne assistants; the ignudi above the thrones turned into caryatids; and the accompanying ancestors of Christ in the severies and lunettes became framing figures of the virtues. At the same time, the church dignitaries were fitted out in the contemporary style with ceremonial pomp such as pontifical garments and baldachins.
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