text: She climbed the Sistine chapel later on to see Raphael's much criticized The Last Supper, for which she expressed great praise, writing in a letter to the painter Robert:  I also climbed the steps to the Sistine chapel, to admire the dome with a fresco by Michelangelo as well as his painting of The Last Supper. Despite all the criticisms of this painting, I thought it a masterpiece of the first order for the expression and the boldness of the foreshortened figures. There is a sublime quality in both the composition and in the execution. As for the general air of chaos, I believe it to be totally justified by the subject matter. On the next day, she visited the Vatican museum; of her visit, she wrote to Robert:  The following day I went to the Vatican Meusum. There is really nothing to compare with the classical masterpieces either in shape, style or execution. The Greeks, in particular, created a complete and perfect unison between truth and beauty. Looking at their work, there is no doubt that they possessed exceptional models, or that the men and women of Greece discovered an ideal of beauty long, long ago. As yet I have made only a superficial study of the museum's contents, but the Apollo, The Dying Gladiator , The Laocoon, the magnificent altars, the splendid candelabras, indeed all the beautiful things that I saw have left a permanent impression on my memory.On the same day, she was summoned by the members of the Academy of Painting, including Girodet: they presented her with the palette of the greatly talented deceased painter Jean Germain Drouais, In exchange, they asked her for her own palette, which she obliged. She later visited the Flavian Amphitheater, where she saw the cross placed on one of its high points by Robert. While in Rome, she was very keen to seek out the famous female painter Angelica Kaufmann, with whom she spent two evenings. Kaufmann showed Vigée Le Brun her gallery and sketches, and they engaged in long conversations. Vigée Le Brun praised her wit and intellect, although Vigée Le Brun found little inspirations in these evenings, citing Kaufmann's lack of enthusiasm and Vigée Le Brun's own dearth of knowledge. For the first three days of her stay in Rome, she visited the home of Cardinal Bernis, who was a gracious host to her.