ABSTRACT
Michelangelo’s close relationship with and spiritual dependence on Vittoria Colonna, and his friendship with Reginald Pole are widely acknowledged. What is rarely commented on, however, is that during this period of intense theological discussion and debate among the resident and itinerant members of Pole’s Spirituali household at Viterbo and Rome Michelangelo was in the process of planning and executing Pope Paul III’s commission for the Pauline Chapel frescoes. It is therefore important to return to these frescoes which are so deliberately cited in the broadsheet and to examine them again in the light of the discussions of the previous chapter.
