ABSTRACT
The scene in Michelangelo’s Crucifixion of St. Peter (Fig. 1) is often described as if it were a no-man’s land, a bleak, bare, abstract scaffolding upon which Michelangelo placed his gigantic array of figures. The latter, in turn, are said to exist in a kind of isolation, in space as well as in time, enigmatic figures who walk from the world of the painting into that of the viewer, and through it, on to an unknown destiny. On occasion these traits are identified as hallmarks of the “late style” of Michelangelo and connected with presumed tenets of the Counter-Reformation and Mannerist art. 1 Michelangelo, Crucifixion of St. Peter. Vatican, Pauline Chapel (photo: Vatican Museums) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203063439/70c941d4-1d92-4b80-89c3-59c86e6c83d2/content/fig22_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
