They were probably the portion that Michael Angelo intended to finish with gilding, but owing to the impatience of the Pope they were left in their present state.

They are a most valuable part of the decorative scheme.

Continuity is given by the repetition of these bronze-coloured circles.
[Image #30] THE BRAZEN SERPENT SISTINE CHAPEL, ROME (_By permission of the Fratelli Alinari, Florence_) A great cornice divides the scheme of the flat part of the vault already described, and perhaps the first portion executed, from the curved part containing the Prophets and Sibyls.

They are larger in scale and freer in style than any portion of the flat part of the vault, as though with practice Michael Angelo's hand had grown even bolder than before.

He may, too, have thought the new scale of figures easier to see from the floor of the chapel, for we must remember that this was his first experiment in vault painting, and no doubt he would be glad to see its effect from below when he was ordered to remove the scaffolding, and he must have learnt by it.