The Punishment of the Rebels is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, executed in 1480-1482 and located in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. On 27 October 1480 Botticelli, together with other Florentine painters, left for Rome, where he had been called as part of the reconciliation project between Lorenzo de' Medici, the de facto ruler of Florence, and Pope Sixtus IV. The Florentines started to work in the Sistine Chapel as early as the Spring of 1481, along with Pietro Perugino, who was already there. The theme of the decoration was a parallel between the Stories of Moses... and those of Christ, as a sign of continuity between the Old and the New Testament. A continuity also between the divine law of the Tables and the message of Jesus, who, in turn, chose Peter as his successor: this would finally result into a legitimation of the latter's successors, the popes of Rome. Botticelli, helped by numerous assistants, painted three scenes. On 17 February 1482 his contract was renovated, including the other scenes to complete the chapel's decoration.
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