Main theme: Michelangelo, the esteemed artist and architect during the time of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.

Part 1. Changing Climate

• The Reformation. A lot had happened in Rome since Michelangelo moved back to Florence in 1516. Sent to Rome on a mission in 1510, Martin Luther had been disgusted by the extravagance of the papal court and the corruption of the church. In 1517 he started the Reformation. The erstwhile pope, Julius II, did indeed lead an extravagant lifestyle; as did his successor Leo X. In fact the papacy seemed to be heading for bankruptcy when Leo died in 1521, the catholic church in Europe on the verge of falling apart.
• New conservatism. Although the succeeding pope, Adrian VI, was not to live for very long - he died in 1523 - he implemented a more conservative regime which was to characterise the papacy for many years to come, a papacy struggling to come to terms with the Reformation. Adrian's ascetic lifestyle meant depression for the city, many artists left Rome, and the decorating of the Sala di Constantino (state rooms of the Vatican) was suspended. Work on the Florentines' church, San Giovanni, was halted too. Adrian nourished an innate suspicion of pagan idols; the room in the Belvedere containing the Laocoön was closed to visitors.
• Clement VII. Following Adrian's death, Cardinal Giulio de Medici was elected as Pope Clement VII. Although the arts saw a revival during his reign, Charles V's invasion of Italy and the sack of Rome in 1527 were to set its marks on the city for years. Clement was no ascetic though and the Humanist education he had received in the house of Lorenzo the Magnificent still ran deep inside him. He was deeply religious but no Savonarola; evident, for example, in his commission of the Transfiguration by Raphael.

Sights and art works:

Sala di Constantino, (state rooms of the Vatican)

The Transfiguration, 1518-20, Raphael, Pinacoteca Vaticana