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MUSIC

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February 18th 1564.

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Michelangelo Buonarroti,
the great sculptor,

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painter and architect,
dies at his home

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in one of Rome’s
poorest neighborhoods.

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At dawn the following day,
agents of the Pope arrive

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at his workshop to search
for anything of value

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he may have left behind.

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But they find almost nothing.

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Before he died,
Michelangelo set fire

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to all the drawings and private
papers in his possession.

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Soon after, his
corpse disappears,

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carried off in
secret to Florence.

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The powerful
Church Michelangelo

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had served for half a century,
is denied the opportunity

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to honor him with
a state funeral.

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For four and a half
centuries, the mysterious end

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to Michelangelo’s life has
inspired speculation and rumor.

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But now, art historian
Antonio Forcellino has made

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a startling discovery
that reveals a dark truth

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about Michelangelo’s
final years.

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Strange inconsistencies
from one famous sculpture

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have led Forcellino
on an investigation

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that has turned up evidence
of intentional deception,

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and close contact with members
of a clandestine fellowship

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so threatening,
its radical ideas

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were punishable by death
under the Inquisition.

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It seems that even as
Michelangelo was glorifying

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the Catholic Church with his
sculptures and artwork,

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his heart and mind
were leading him down

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a dangerous road of
heresy and dissent.

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MUSIC

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It is here in the heart of
Rome, that Italy's most famous

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artist created some of his
best known masterpieces.

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The frescoes that
decorate the ceiling

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of the Sistine Chapel
and his Last Judgement.

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BELL RINGING

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Michelangelo’s home and
workshop are long gone,

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but the neighbourhood is
still dotted with churches.

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Art historian Antonio Forcellino
knows these churches well.

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As a restoration expert, he
has worked in many of them.

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But his efforts in this
one, San Pietro in Vincoli,

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turned up some
unexpected results.

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Forcellino is a distinguished
and well known

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researcher of
Michelangelo’s technique.

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In 1999, he was
appointed to restore

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one of the artist’s most
famous works: The Moses.

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I came here one evening
before we got started,

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and I waited till all the
tourists who come here

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every day had gone and I
felt totally intimidated.

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I was afraid to touch an
icon that was in the hearts,

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in the photographs of people
across the entire planet.

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MUSIC

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Michelangelo created
the Moses in 1513.

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He was 37, and had
already made his mark

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with two other masterpieces:

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The Pietà for St.
Peter’s Basilica,

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and The David for the
city of Florence.

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He was a rising star,
on his way to becoming

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the Catholic Church's
favourite artist.

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His Moses was considered
a museum piece in Italy

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before it was even
out of his workshop.

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As Forcellino set to
work on the statue,

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he could see Michelangelo's
artistic genius up close.

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The finely rendered veins
of Moses' powerful arms.

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The intricate beard.

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The strong, charismatic face.

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And the horns, which
are meant to signify

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rays of divine light.

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It’s extraordinary, it
really looks like flesh.

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The sculpture was exceptional,
but during the months

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of restoration, Forcellino
and his colleagues began

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to notice some serious

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imperfections in
the masterpiece.

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The left leg was
strangely angled,

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and much smaller
than the right.

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There was a difference
of almost three inches

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in the diameter of one knee
compared to the other.

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Also, Forcellino noticed
that on the left side,

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the neck was oddly distorted,

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though the right
side looked fine.

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And the beard was
surprisingly asymmetrical.

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On the left Michelangelo
created such an intricate web

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of locks that it was difficult
for us to get in there

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with the cotton swabs to
clean, while on the right

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the beard is totally flat.

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As Forcellino worked on the
statue, he began to suspect

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that Michelangelo had
radically altered it

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just before it was finished.

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And this wasn’t the only
sculpture with inconsistencies.

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The Moses is the centrepiece
of a funeral monument.

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The tomb of Julius the 2nd,

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one of the greatest Popes
of the Renaissance.

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A patron of the arts, Julius
understood how paintings,

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sculpture and
architecture could convey

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the Church’s message
to the masses.

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He laid the foundation stone for
St. Peter’s Basilica in 1506.

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But it is for his achievements
on the battlefield

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and his fiery temperament
that he is best remembered:

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more of a volcanic warrior
king than a holy father.

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And yet, this is how
Michelangelo portrayed him:

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lying down in an upper
niche, small and submissive.

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I was immediately struck by

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Michelangelo’s
portrayal of the Pope.

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Traditionally the Pope is
shown either lying in state,

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dead but sacred, or as
a triumphant General.

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This Pope seemed to
speak another language.

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He seemed fragile,
vanquished.

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MUSIC

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No one had paid much attention
to the Pope before,

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because the statue had
been dismissed as the work

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of a second-rate sculptor,
who Michelangelo

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had sub-contracted to
finish the statues

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on the upper tier of the tomb.

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But on closer examination, it
became clear to Forcellino

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that the Pope could only have
been created by Michelangelo.

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In the statue of the Pope
we don’t find the rigid

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mannequin-like faces
of the other statues,

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but a very convincing
human expression.

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These hands are also
typical of Michelangelo.

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These pronounced knuckles and
the wide and deep-set nails.

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MUSIC

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Other experts agreed, and it
is now generally accepted

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that the Pope is
Michelangelo’s.

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But we still had to
understand why Michelangelo

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had chosen to represent the
papacy in such an unusual way.

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MUSIC

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Michelangelo first met Pope
Julius the 2nd in 1505.

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The Pope was impressed by
the young man’s talent,

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and appreciated his
independent spirit.

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The two would come to
admire each other greatly.

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Julius’s tomb would be the
artist’s first papal commission,

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the beginning of a
relationship with the Holy See

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that would define the
rest of his life.

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But their affection
for each other makes

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Michelangelo’s unusual
portrayal of the Pope

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all the more strange.

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Other statues prove
equally perplexing.

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Michelangelo called these
statues The Active Life…

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…and The Contemplative Life.

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The figures, which had been
represented in Church art

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since medieval times,
normally symbolize

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the two Catholic
paths to salvation:

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Faith by The
Contemplative Life,

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and Good Works or charity
by The Active Life.

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The art history books
Forcellino consulted,

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said The Active Life holds

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a garland of flowers
in her left hand,

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and a mirror in her right.

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But close up, Forcellino
could see that the objects

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were not as described.

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The garland appeared to be
a crown of laurel leaves.

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And the mirror was
some kind of torch.

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We realized it couldn’t under
any circumstances be a mirror.

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It looked more like a torch
or a small lantern.

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Forcellino was shocked
that no other art historians

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had noticed the incongruities.

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He researched other
descriptions of the tomb,

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and eventually realised
that he needed

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to go directly to the
source for his information.

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He turned to Michelangelo’s
official biography,

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which the artist had personally
dictated to a young scribe,

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Ascanio Condivi, near the
end of his life in 1551.

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Michelangelo paid
very close attention

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to the symbols in his works;
every tiny iconographic detail

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is precisely thought out,
very carefully elaborated.

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In the pages dedicated
to the Pope’s tomb,

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Forcellino made a
surprising discovery.

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Michelangelo himself
was to blame

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for the misleading
descriptions.

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The biography describes
the Active Life,

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and it’s Michelangelo who
dictated the description

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as a female figure who looks
at herself in a mirror.

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But it’s clearly visible
that what she’s holding

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is not a mirror but an object
which I interpret to be a torch,

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an oil lamp.

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It seems like a minor
discrepancy, but during

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Michelangelo’s time, it was
immensely significant.

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Since none but the
Clergy had access

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to the written words
of the Bible,

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most people were heavily
influenced by religious imagery.

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So what motive could
Michelangelo have had

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for incorrectly
describing the statue?

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To find that answer,
Forcellino would need

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to dig into the
historical records.

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And so began an
obsessive search

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for the true meaning behind
Michelangelo’s work.

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BELL RINGING

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Setting aside second-hand
accounts of Michelangelo’s life,

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and even the artist’s
own biography,

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Forcellino turned to the
actual contracts written up

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between Michelangelo and
Pope Julius the 2nd.

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Under the terms of the first
document, dated 1505,

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the tomb was to be a
grandiose tribute

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to Julius' imperial Papacy, a
huge, three-tiered monument

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featuring no fewer than 40
biblical and mythical figures.

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Michelangelo was to
be paid generously,

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but it would be a long time
before he finished the project.

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Almost from day one,
Julius distracted

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him with other projects.

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In 1508, he asked Michelangelo
to decorate the ceiling

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of the Sistine Chapel,
an enormous undertaking

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that occupied him full
time for five years,

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and earned him
universal recognition

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as the world’s greatest
living painter.

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The Pope’s tomb was still
just a project on paper

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when Julius died in 1513.

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In the years that followed,
Michelangelo was routinely

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pressured by successive
Popes to ignore

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his obligations to Julius,
and work for them.

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Julius’ heirs, meanwhile,
accused Michelangelo

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of embezzlement for
accepting their money

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but not completing the tomb.

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In the end, it would
be forty years before

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the artist finished
the project.

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And the tomb’s final
appearance was

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a mere shadow of its
original grandiose design.

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It went down in history as a
pastiche of odds and ends

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with no particular meaning
that an ageing Michelangelo

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had cobbled together,
simply to end

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the 40-year wrangle
with the Pope's family.

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And yet, something
told Forcellino

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there was more to
it than that.

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He went back to
Michelangelo’s biography

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for an account of the
final negotiations

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over the tomb’s completion.

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Forcellino noticed that
Michelangelo had highlighted

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the role of an obscure
Cardinal, Ercole Gonzaga,

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in establishing the final
design of the monument in 1542.

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Condivi’s biography mentioned
in passing, a person

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who had never been studied in
relation to Michelangelo before,

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the Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga.

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Condivi says Gonzaga
had seen the Moses

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in Michelangelo’s workshop
and said that that sculpture

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alone would be enough
to honour Julius II.

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Michelangelo had originally
created the Moses

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for the Pope’s
tomb back in 1513.

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But as the project
was scaled down,

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the sculpture had been
set aside as too large.

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It reappeared in the plans in
1542, at Gonzaga’s suggestion.

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MUSIC

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Gonzaga was a distinguished
political and religious figure

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during the mid 16th Century,

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and a close relative of
Pope Julius the 2nd.

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The Cardinal had been a
mediator in the tense

246
00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:00,531
negotiations with
Michelangelo for years.

247
00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:05,400
He came from a wealthy
family that governed

248
00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,160
the city-state of
Mantua, one of the most

249
00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:11,839
refined and forward-thinking
courts in Italy.

250
00:17:14,500 --> 00:17:19,015
His papers are preserved
in the city’s archives.

251
00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:25,085
MUSIC

252
00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:29,800
Gonzaga corresponded with
the Pope, with the Emperor,

253
00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:32,320
Charles V, and with
the ambassadors

254
00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:35,000
of the great European powers.

255
00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:37,960
He was a major player.

256
00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:44,840
Among his papers I found
a number of letters

257
00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:50,867
about Michelangelo, and
they’d never been published.

258
00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,000
The letters featuring
Michelangelo were to two

259
00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,080
leading European
personalities of the time:

260
00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:00,240
A powerful English Cardinal
named Reginald Pole,

261
00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:05,040
and the Roman noblewoman and
poet, Vittoria Colonna.

262
00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:09,200
Gonzaga, Pole and Colonna
were evidently close friends,

263
00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:11,800
they corresponded
and met frequently.

264
00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:14,400
Michelangelo was clearly
well-known to them,

265
00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:16,820
his name is mentioned often.

266
00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:23,560
Gonzaga’s private
letters ushered me into

267
00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:29,920
this obscure and insidious
realm, this web of relations

268
00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,320
among a group of
people who were close

269
00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:36,742
to Michelangelo around 1545.

270
00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:45,480
Gonzaga and the others
admired Michelangelo,

271
00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:48,160
but they were also involved
in much bigger matters

272
00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:50,720
than sculpture and art.

273
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,360
They were part of a
religious renaissance

274
00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:56,280
that was threatening
the very foundations

275
00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,800
of the Catholic Church.

276
00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:12,360
The conflict centred
around the ever-widening

277
00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:14,640
religious battle
between the Church,

278
00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:17,600
and reform-minded Protestants.

279
00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,000
Martin Luther and his
Protestant supporters

280
00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:26,360
railed against the moral
decadence of the Church:

281
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,360
the sale of forgiveness
or Indulgences,

282
00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:31,960
the ostentatious
wealth of the Papacy,

283
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,080
and the corruption that was
rife among the clergy.

284
00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:37,520
For the first time
in 1500 years,

285
00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:41,210
the Catholic Church
was in deep crisis.

286
00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:46,480
Colonna, Pole and Gonzaga
were on the front lines

287
00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:48,671
of this religious debate.

288
00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,080
They were among an increasing
number of loyal Catholics

289
00:19:52,120 --> 00:19:54,400
throughout Italy who
embraced the idea

290
00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:58,046
of a profound renewal
of the Catholic faith.

291
00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,720
They wanted reform, but
believed it could be achieved

292
00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:03,960
from within the
Church, thus preventing

293
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:07,078
a split with the Protestants.

294
00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:09,880
But the Church orthodoxy
was threatened

295
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:12,280
by the idea of reform,
and the conservatives

296
00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:16,280
were willing to go to extreme
measures to prevent it.

297
00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:22,710
MUSIC

298
00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:27,640
At this point, the story of
the group around Michelangelo

299
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,160
when he made the tomb
became more important

300
00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,859
for me than the story
of the tomb itself.

301
00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:39,400
Historical sources confirm
that Gonzaga, Pole and Colonna

302
00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,320
were prominent
Italian reformists,

303
00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:44,080
and their letters
demonstrate that

304
00:20:44,120 --> 00:20:46,800
they held Michelangelo
in high regard.

305
00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,080
But were they simply
art enthusiasts,

306
00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:52,800
or was there more to
their admiration?

307
00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:00,960
To try and find out, Forcellino
sought out Alexander Nagel,

308
00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,840
an art historian who has
studied how Michelangelo

309
00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:07,160
was influenced by the
religious debate of his day.

310
00:21:07,360 --> 00:21:10,800
Nagel believes that Michelangelo
and Vittoria Colonna

311
00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:13,671
had a friendship that
transcended art.

312
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:15,840
It’s not known exactly
when Michelangelo

313
00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:19,600
met Vittoria Colonna but it
probably occurred in the 1530s.

314
00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:22,320
Every account that we have
of their relationship

315
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:24,840
suggests that it was
a very powerful one.

316
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:27,720
Michelangelo...

317
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:32,280
A celebrated poet in her
lifetime, Colonna came

318
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:35,737
from one of Rome’s most
established noble families.

319
00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:40,520
We have several letters between
them and they are rich

320
00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,680
with information about how
they felt about each other

321
00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:49,331
and how they felt about art
and poetry and religion.

322
00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:53,760
From their writings, it
emerges that Michelangelo

323
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,120
and Colonna, though
both devout Catholics,

324
00:21:57,120 --> 00:21:59,640
yearned for religious reform.

325
00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,360
In one letter, the
artist supports an idea

326
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,760
central to Luther’s
attack on the Church.

327
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:12,760
He says “La grazia divina
non Si può comprare”,

328
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:16,080
that means divine grace
cannot be bought;

329
00:22:16,120 --> 00:22:18,680
which is to say it
cannot be earned,

330
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:22,960
you can’t do good things
or pay money to have

331
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,520
a chapel founded in church
or pay money to have

332
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,800
masses said for your
soul and expect that

333
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:31,440
that’s just going to save you.

334
00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:35,240
Michelangelo's letters, reveal
that he was increasingly

335
00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,760
concerned about what
would happen to his soul

336
00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:41,880
after he died. The
Catholic Church told him

337
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,440
he could earn his place
in heaven by having faith

338
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:48,000
and doing Good Works,
like going to mass,

339
00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:52,360
giving to charity and supporting
the Church financially.

340
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:54,560
But the Protestants said
he could do nothing

341
00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:57,680
to earn his salvation,
because salvation came

342
00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:00,760
from faith, and faith alone.

343
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,240
It is clear from
their exchanges,

344
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:07,640
that at least in private,
both Michelangelo and Colonna

345
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:12,419
took the Protestant view on this
extremely delicate question.

346
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,240
But if Michelangelo was
questioning the theology

347
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:18,880
of the Church, he must
also have struggled

348
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,680
with his own role
in furthering it.

349
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,040
Artists were very much
part of the problem,

350
00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:28,760
most artists in this
period made religious art,

351
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,560
you would have fresco
paintings made for the chapel

352
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,640
you might put your
tomb in the chapel,

353
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:37,360
have it nicely decorated. This
is the work that artists did.

354
00:23:37,795 --> 00:23:40,989
For Michelangelo, the
problem was uniquely acute.

355
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:46,120
His main client was not just any
church but the Holy See itself,

356
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:48,680
which saw in his art a
powerful instrument

357
00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:50,600
of mass communication.

358
00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:53,280
Michelangelo created
masterpieces

359
00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:56,800
glorifying the Church, but
Forcellino also found

360
00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:59,200
references to very
different drawings

361
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:01,800
the artist made for
Vittoria Colonna.

362
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,160
Their message was more personal

363
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,880
than his paintings for
the Vatican Palazzos.

364
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,360
They don’t cost a lot of
money in any material sense

365
00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:12,280
but they’re filled
with meaning.

366
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:16,000
And it is in discussing those
drawings that Michelangelo

367
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,200
makes his most trenchant
comments about the system

368
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,480
of religious art, of
church art, which is also

369
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:26,320
the business of
indulgences, of endowments,

370
00:24:26,345 --> 00:24:29,545
of good works essentially.

371
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,200
We needed to return to
Christ and these drawings

372
00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:36,438
do that in a very powerful way.

373
00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:42,960
The drawings leave the Church
completely out of the picture,

374
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:45,080
bringing Christ
directly to the people.

375
00:24:45,120 --> 00:24:47,520
They circulated among
Gonzaga’s friends,

376
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:49,920
and Michelangelo appears
to have dedicated one

377
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,840
to Reginald Pole, the
English Cardinal destined

378
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,360
to have a central role
in the religious clashes

379
00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:57,610
that were about to occur.

380
00:24:57,960 --> 00:24:59,800
Pole was among the most powerful

381
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,560
and respected
cardinals of his day.

382
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:05,040
For help understanding
his reformist ideas,

383
00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:08,120
Forcellino turned to
Professor Thomas Mayer.

384
00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:10,440
It's important to think
that he is a scion

385
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:12,680
of the very highest
English nobility.

386
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:16,560
Pole is, although not first
in line for the throne

387
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:21,680
when he was born, close; and he
is sent to Italy by Henry VIII,

388
00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:25,320
to Padua, he gets the best
imaginable education,

389
00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:28,680
he meets everybody, he
goes back to England,

390
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,480
expected to become arch
Bishop of Canterbury,

391
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:33,720
that's the spiritual head
of the English church.

392
00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:36,320
So, he is right in
the middle of that.

393
00:25:36,360 --> 00:25:40,751
And then he leaves
England in 1532.

394
00:25:42,196 --> 00:25:45,266
Pole returned to Italy
at a critical moment.

395
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:49,920
Pope Paul the 3rd, elected
in 1534, inspired great hope

396
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:52,000
among Italian reformers.

397
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:58,000
He made Pole and other
progressive men Cardinals,

398
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:03,200
but ultimately, his commitment
to change would prove limited.

399
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:11,560
By 1541, Pole had become
Papal Governor of Viterbo,

400
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:13,640
a town near Rome.

401
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:17,080
His personal charisma
made him the focal point

402
00:26:17,120 --> 00:26:19,600
for a network of
reform-minded Bishops,

403
00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:24,009
theologians and humanists, as
well as poets and artists.

404
00:26:25,978 --> 00:26:30,087
Among them were Vittoria
Colonna and Ercole Gonzaga.

405
00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:38,480
Forcellino’s references call
the group The Spirituali.

406
00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:43,760
They were for the most part
extremely privileged people,

407
00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:48,000
extremely well educated people,
who had a very spiritual

408
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:52,240
conception of religion,
which now we recognize

409
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:55,040
as sympathetic to
Protestantism.

410
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,320
But in the moment their
positions were not

411
00:26:58,360 --> 00:27:01,880
protestant positions, they were
positions that were possible

412
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:06,774
within traditions of thinking
about man’s relationship to god.

413
00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:12,280
Loyal Catholics, they saw in
Pole a leader who could define

414
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,680
a middle ground, heal the
divide with the Protestants,

415
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,204
and lead the Church into
a more spiritual era.

416
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:26,829
Michelangelo is very close to
this group in these years.

417
00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:30,240
He is clearly a
member of the group,

418
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:34,579
and produces images
that mirror its ideas.

419
00:27:36,360 --> 00:27:40,320
MUSIC

420
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,240
In the early 1540s, the
Spirituali were at the height

421
00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,400
of their power and popularity,

422
00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,880
in Italy and within
the Church itself.

423
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:57,640
A profound renewal of the
Catholic faith seemed at hand.

424
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:04,680
But deeply worried by the
Spirituali’s growing influence,

425
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:06,240
Conservatives within the Church

426
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,274
joined forces to defend
their authority.

427
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,360
Their leader was Cardinal
Gian Pietro Carafa.

428
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,320
In a 17th Century biography,
Forcellino comes across

429
00:28:21,360 --> 00:28:23,920
an astonishing description.

430
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:32,000
Carafa is described as the
greatest, most glorious

431
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:36,160
and pitiless persecutor
of heresy in Italy

432
00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,520
and the greatest, most glorious
and pitiless persecutor

433
00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,440
of the most important group
of Italian heretics,

434
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:46,760
that of Reginald Pole
and Vittoria Colonna.

435
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:55,280
Carafa came from an illustrious
and noble Neapolitan family.

436
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:58,880
He had personal designs on
the Papacy and saw in Pole

437
00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:01,009
his main competitor.

438
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:05,540
Their destinies would
become closely intertwined.

439
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:09,080
They become Cardinals at
exactly the same time.

440
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:12,600
They both aspire at some
point in their career

441
00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:17,760
to very high status. Carafa
I think much more actively

442
00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:19,840
than Pole did. But other
than that they are from

443
00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:23,240
very similar backgrounds, I
think that’s very important.

444
00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,560
They are a generation
apart in age, and I think

445
00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,920
that’s very important, cause
Carafa assumed on some level

446
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,640
a degree of deference from
Pole, that Pole was not

447
00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:35,000
prepared to give him just
because he was older.

448
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:39,480
So Carafa is a personality,
I think it matters,

449
00:29:39,520 --> 00:29:44,560
that his personality is not
shall we say flexible.

450
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,280
Unlike Pole, who was
open to Lutheran ideas,

451
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:54,813
Carafa considered Lutheran
synonymous with Heretical.

452
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:02,920
Austere and rigid, he became the
Spirituali’s fiercest enemy.

453
00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:08,080
MUSIC

454
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:10,640
Carafa makes common cause with

455
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:13,240
the most conservative
faction in Rome.

456
00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:17,120
The ones who want to keep
business absolutely as usual.

457
00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:20,160
They have tremendous power.
That’s a brilliant move.

458
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:25,880
Pole has poets and
artists and people

459
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:27,760
who are not used to discipline.

460
00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:31,095
So Carafa has an
advantage there.

461
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:37,600
With Carafa out to destroy the
Protestants and the Spirituali,

462
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:41,110
Michelangelo was caught
in the crossfire.

463
00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:46,920
Since 1536, the artist
had been on salary

464
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:51,845
as the Vatican’s supreme
architect, sculptor and painter.

465
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,440
In 1541, he finished
the Last Judgement,

466
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,480
a fresco representing
Christ’s Second Coming

467
00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:02,840
for the altar wall of
the Sistine Chapel.

468
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,560
But Carafa led an
assault on the work,

469
00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,080
declaring the masterpiece’s
naked bodies

470
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,160
obscene and immoral,
totally inappropriate

471
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:17,446
for a Christian chapel.

472
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:24,704
MUSIC

473
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,016
Michelangelo was devastated.

474
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,440
He wrote in anguish:
“What judgement shall be

475
00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:36,320
so barbarous as to deny
that man’s foot is nobler

476
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:40,080
than his boot? And that
his skin is nobler than

477
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:44,048
that of the sheep with
which he covers himself?”

478
00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:52,720
His sensibility was the
essence of the Renaissance.

479
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:57,800
The focus was on man,
not on the Church.

480
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,680
Fortunately for Michelangelo,
Pope Paul the 3rd

481
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:09,760
immediately came
to his defence.

482
00:32:11,696 --> 00:32:13,920
He showed his support
by offering the artist

483
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:16,960
another high-profile,
Papal commission.

484
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:26,040
Despite the scandal over
Michelangelo’s nudes,

485
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:28,320
Pope Paul III
practically forced him

486
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:30,360
to decorate his private chapel,

487
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:34,040
the Pauline Chapel, where
Michelangelo would paint

488
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,160
nude angels that are
even more beautiful,

489
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:41,360
more sensual, than those
in the Last Judgement.

490
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:47,880
Carafa denounced Michelangelo’s
frescos as indecent,

491
00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:51,800
but in truth, the nudity was
only a secondary offence.

492
00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,240
What Carafa and his fellow
Conservatives really opposed

493
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:59,200
was the lack of concessions
to the Church hierarchy.

494
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:01,320
There are no depictions
of Popes or Bishops

495
00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:03,440
in their ritual vestments.

496
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:07,454
Christ speaks directly to
St. Paul.

497
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:12,880
Forcellino believes Michelangelo
drew his inspiration

498
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:14,880
for the piece, from a
passage that formed

499
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:17,840
the foundation of
Protestant belief.

500
00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:23,360
Christ says to Paul “whoever
believeth in me shall be saved."

501
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:28,560
It’s not a stretch to assume
Michelangelo knew the verse.

502
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:30,800
We know from his
contemporaries that the artist

503
00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:33,840
owned a bible, and since
he didn’t read Latin,

504
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:37,880
his copy was likely the
illegal Italian version.

505
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:42,560
The first translations were
into German by Martin Luther,

506
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:46,160
but other editions, including
the Italian, soon followed.

507
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:48,680
Possession of any
bible by non-Clergy

508
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:52,376
was considered a crime
against the Church.

509
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:58,080
In March of 1542, 40
years after he began,

510
00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:01,120
Michelangelo finally dedicated
himself to finishing

511
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:04,673
the tomb of Julius the 2nd.

512
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:11,400
MUSIC

513
00:34:11,900 --> 00:34:16,493
But once again, he was caught
up in the religious conflict.

514
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:19,639
That summer, Carafa
went on the offensive,

515
00:34:19,679 --> 00:34:22,760
convincing Paul the 3rd to
reinstate the Inquisition

516
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:24,560
as a means of attacking
Protestants,

517
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:27,920
and their sympathizers
within the Church.

518
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:31,120
The Pope appointed Carafa
Inquisitor General,

519
00:34:31,159 --> 00:34:33,360
but initially gave
him no funds,

520
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:37,016
a balancing act typical
of his Papacy.

521
00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:40,800
Carafa could attack the
Protestants openly,

522
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,760
but he had to be more careful
with the Spirituali,

523
00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:48,657
since the Pope still held
Cardinal Pole in high regard.

524
00:34:50,639 --> 00:34:54,040
So Carafa bided his time,
slowly gathering evidence

525
00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:57,360
against Pole while using
his prosecutorial powers

526
00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:01,720
to go after less
well protected reformers.

527
00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:05,120
His first victim was
Bernardino Ochino,

528
00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,440
an itinerant
preacher from Siena,

529
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:12,200
famous for the beauty and
power of his sermons.

530
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,640
Ochino was a close friend
of Vittoria Colonna,

531
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:21,280
and had a strong following
throughout Italy.

532
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,240
Carafa summoned Ochino to Rome,

533
00:35:30,265 --> 00:35:33,800
to justify some questionable
themes in his sermons.

534
00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:39,600
Fearing arrest, Ochino instead
decided to head north,

535
00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:42,160
towards safety in
Protestant Switzerland.

536
00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:45,930
Gonzaga saw him off
at the frontier.

537
00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:52,280
On the run, a scared
but liberated

538
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:54,080
Ochino wrote to Colonna,

539
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,520
“I’ve decided to flee, as
it is clear that in Rome

540
00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:01,200
they want to reform the Church,
starting with my death.

541
00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:05,720
Now I can finally take off
the mask and say the truth.”

542
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:11,920
Concerned about Colonna’s
safety, Pole persuaded her

543
00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:14,360
to hand the letter over
to the Inquisition,

544
00:36:14,377 --> 00:36:18,313
and dissociate herself from
her friend in trouble.

545
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:23,423
MUSIC

546
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,960
She did so, but Ochino’s
letter and flight

547
00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:29,280
gave Carafa just the
ammunition he needed

548
00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:31,960
to build internal support
for his crackdown

549
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,400
against Pole and
the Spirituali.

550
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:42,243
The threat continued to build.

551
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:45,120
The Spirituali were
forced underground,

552
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,280
where they continued to work on
their reformist manifesto:

553
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:51,485
The Benefit of Christ’s Death.

554
00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:58,680
The group met in
Viterbo to prepare

555
00:36:58,720 --> 00:37:01,640
the book for publication.

556
00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:07,520
They printed 40,000 copies,
although the manuscript

557
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:12,040
was already circulating widely
among Italian reformers.

558
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:19,040
It’s written in
pretty direct prose.

559
00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:21,040
And it’s stuffed
with quotations from

560
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:24,120
the fathers of the Church
with a just slightly

561
00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:26,520
off twist in the emphasis.

562
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:28,600
The crucial point
about the emphasis

563
00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:33,080
is that the institutional
Church is not there at all.

564
00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:36,520
The text embraced
the Protestant view

565
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:41,360
that Faith in Christ’s sacrifice
was the key to salvation.

566
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:44,000
Although Pole made
sure that Good Works

567
00:37:44,040 --> 00:37:46,760
were given some weight,
the implication was that

568
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:49,360
the Church and its
sacraments played no role

569
00:37:49,400 --> 00:37:52,196
in the salvation of mankind.

570
00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:56,440
It’s published
anonymously of course

571
00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:59,880
and it’s immediately
targeted by the Inquisition,

572
00:37:59,920 --> 00:38:02,240
which begins to hunt
down the authors

573
00:38:02,240 --> 00:38:05,446
and takes the book
out of circulation.

574
00:38:07,275 --> 00:38:10,985
Carafa declared it
heretical and censored it.

575
00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,440
Reginald Pole and Vittoria
Colonna, suspected of being

576
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:16,720
among the publishers,
were brought before

577
00:38:16,737 --> 00:38:19,649
the Inquisition for
interrogation.

578
00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:26,160
BELL RINGING

579
00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:30,200
MUSIC

580
00:38:30,720 --> 00:38:33,840
Four hundred and fifty years
later, Forcellino believes

581
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:36,720
there may still be records of
the Inquisition proceedings

582
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:39,760
against the members
of the Spirituali.

583
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,240
Many of the transcripts and
files have been destroyed,

584
00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:45,720
but in the Vatican Archives,
he digs up a number

585
00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:48,080
of letters from Pole and
Colonna that had been

586
00:38:48,080 --> 00:38:51,000
intercepted by Carafa’s spies.

587
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:58,400
MUSIC

588
00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:00,560
One of these letters contains

589
00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,571
an unexpected reference
to Michelangelo.

590
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:08,280
Written by Vittoria Colonna,
it mentions the 1543 meeting

591
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:10,160
at which the
Spirituali prepared

592
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,520
their manifesto
for publication.

593
00:39:15,593 --> 00:39:20,673
The document clearly states that
Michelangelo was in attendance.

594
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:23,240
The artist apparently
brought one

595
00:39:23,240 --> 00:39:25,880
of his drawings for Colonna.

596
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:28,120
His presence at such
an important meeting

597
00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:31,600
proves that Michelangelo not
only shared his friends’ ideals,

598
00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:35,440
he had direct access to the
illegal Spirituali manifesto

599
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,240
at the very time
he was completing

600
00:39:37,240 --> 00:39:39,280
the tomb of Julius the 2nd.

601
00:39:40,921 --> 00:39:44,188
To Forcellino, the historical
evidence is adding up.

602
00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:46,040
He believes he can
see the influence

603
00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:48,240
of the Spirituali
religious ideas

604
00:39:48,265 --> 00:39:50,945
in Michelangelo’s
tribute to the Pope.

605
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:55,840
It’s this torch, this source
of light in the hands

606
00:39:55,880 --> 00:39:59,080
of the Active Life that
goes right to the heart

607
00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:03,999
of the devotion expressed in
the Benefit of Christ’s Death.

608
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:09,200
In the group’s manifesto,
the Spirituali reaffirmed

609
00:40:09,240 --> 00:40:12,560
the Protestant belief that only
Faith in Christ’s sacrifice

610
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,680
could open the
doors to paradise.

611
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:18,680
But to try and placate the
Church, they were careful

612
00:40:18,720 --> 00:40:23,400
to say that Good Works such as
charity were also important.

613
00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:25,800
Good Works were the
burning flames

614
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:29,280
that illuminated the true
faith of the good Christian.

615
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,560
This figure representing
good works,

616
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:36,120
which we see here
holding a torch,

617
00:40:36,160 --> 00:40:39,320
she doesn’t have the power
to save but is able

618
00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:44,080
to enlighten, to bring to
light the power of faith.

619
00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:49,960
Forcellino believes the
Spirituali also inspired

620
00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:53,600
Michelangelo’s unusual
representation of the Pope.

621
00:40:55,080 --> 00:40:58,120
The statue of the Pope,
which seemed to me

622
00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:02,960
inexplicable at the beginning,
in the end it’s perfectly clear

623
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,320
in light of the ideas
that this group

624
00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:07,600
was cultivating and
that they expressed

625
00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:10,800
in the Benefit of
Christ’s Death.

626
00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:13,920
For Michelangelo
this was the best

627
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:16,880
possible expression
of the Papacy.

628
00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:21,360
A Papacy that would distance
itself from imperial grandeur

629
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:23,800
and finally dedicate
all its energy

630
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:28,000
to the private and urgent
meditation of faith.

631
00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:34,120
Forcellino thinks the
flaws in the Moses

632
00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:37,800
can also be explained by
the Spirituali influence.

633
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:39,840
Supporting his
earlier deductions,

634
00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:42,080
he finds a record from
an anonymous source

635
00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:44,960
close to Michelangelo, that
the artist had re-carved

636
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:46,680
the statue at the last minute

637
00:41:46,720 --> 00:41:49,080
to turn its head to the left.

638
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:53,444
This could explain the strange
shoulder, beard, and leg.

639
00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:57,920
We know Michelangelo was
capable of doing this

640
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:01,920
because we can see it clearly
in the Pietà Rondanini,

641
00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:04,520
where Michelangelo
repositioned the face

642
00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:07,720
of the Madonna by 90 degrees.

643
00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:12,440
MUSIC

644
00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:18,263
But we didn’t know he’d
done it on the Moses.

645
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:23,286
MUSIC

646
00:42:23,680 --> 00:42:27,360
When Michelangelo first
created the Moses in 1513,

647
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:29,280
the statue looked
straight ahead,

648
00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:33,040
towards the altar, where the
parish Priest holds mass.

649
00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:35,360
But decades later
says Forcellino,

650
00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:37,320
the artist no longer
wanted Moses gazing

651
00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:40,720
at the instruments of
the Catholic Church

652
00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:46,160
Christopher Frommel,
acclaimed art historian

653
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:48,720
and Forcellino’s
mentor, agrees.

654
00:42:50,029 --> 00:42:54,095
He could have finished it like
it was and be done with it.

655
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:57,000
In the original grand
project it was supposed

656
00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:00,680
to be one of several statues
on the highest tier.

657
00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:05,040
It now becomes the
protagonist at a time

658
00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:07,440
when Michelangelo has
great doubts about

659
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:10,080
the official Church, and
so he doesn’t have him

660
00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:14,440
look towards the altar
as we would expect;

661
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:18,600
he has him search for the
light, he hasn’t found it yet

662
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:20,800
but he’s searching
for the light,

663
00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:23,403
for a direct contact with God.

664
00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:31,120
By shifting the statue’s
gaze away from the altar,

665
00:43:31,160 --> 00:43:33,320
Michelangelo
reinforced his belief

666
00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:35,560
that man’s direct
relationship with God

667
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:39,160
is what mattered, not the
role of the Priests.

668
00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:42,160
Forcellino is convinced
that the artist transformed

669
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:44,640
a monument intended
to celebrate a Pope,

670
00:43:44,655 --> 00:43:49,661
into the political and religious
manifesto of the Spirituali.

671
00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:53,497
MUSIC

672
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,440
Pope Paul the 3rd, who
had long protected

673
00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:58,400
the Spirituali and
Michelangelo,

674
00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:04,040
even while giving Carafa power
to pursue them, died in 1549.

675
00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:12,280
Before he passed away,
the Pope indicated

676
00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:16,160
that Pole was his choice for
succession to the Papacy.

677
00:44:16,240 --> 00:44:20,372
But the Englishman was one
vote short of a majority.

678
00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:29,440
We are still in time to
avoid a traumatic solution

679
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:35,080
to Europe’s religious crisis,
but that hope is dashed

680
00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:38,920
by Cardinal Carafa,
who intervenes during

681
00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:44,320
the Conclave saying he has
proof of Pole’s heresy.

682
00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:46,920
LOUD BANG

683
00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:52,200
The proof is Pole’s involvement
in the publication

684
00:44:52,240 --> 00:44:54,560
of The Benefit of
Christ’s Death.

685
00:44:56,920 --> 00:45:07,770
MUSIC

686
00:45:11,279 --> 00:45:13,119
Pole was defeated.

687
00:45:17,240 --> 00:45:22,216
The Spirituali’s dream of
reforming the Church was dashed.

688
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:25,760
MUSIC

689
00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:33,680
Then, in 1555, Carafa
himself became Pope,

690
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:38,440
and the Inquisition became
a priority for the Church.

691
00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:43,840
One of Carafa’s first decisions

692
00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:46,400
was to suspend
Michelangelo’s pension.

693
00:45:48,974 --> 00:45:52,334
The artist was now
isolated and alone.

694
00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:57,640
Vittoria Colonna had died

695
00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:01,395
under mysterious circumstances
a few years earlier.

696
00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:06,560
Reginald Pole had
fled to England.

697
00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:10,240
His allies secured him a
position as Papal Ambassador,

698
00:46:10,280 --> 00:46:12,800
but Carafa repeatedly
tried to extradite him

699
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:15,280
and put him on trial.

700
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:18,280
Like Michelangelo,
Ercole Gonzaga

701
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:20,920
was intimidated into silence.

702
00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:23,920
The names of practically
all the Spirituali

703
00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:27,440
made their way into the
Inquisition registry,

704
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:31,920
and some of Michelangelo’s
closest friends were imprisoned.

705
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:39,680
MUSIC

706
00:46:40,240 --> 00:46:42,320
Forcellino believes
the artist realized

707
00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:44,240
that the reformist
symbolism he had carved

708
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:46,440
into the Pope’s tomb, done
at a time when

709
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:48,720
the Spirituali
movement was strong,

710
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:52,040
could now cost him his life.
He needed a way to mask

711
00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:54,763
the true meaning of his work.

712
00:46:56,920 --> 00:47:00,640
At this point anything
that openly expressed

713
00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:04,840
the ideas of the Spirituali
becomes dangerous.

714
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:09,640
The tomb, which set
them in stone,

715
00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:14,440
born of the enthusiasm that
these ideas would win the day,

716
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:17,357
becomes deeply compromising.

717
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:24,160
And this explains
why a year later,

718
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:26,840
dictating his
biography to Condivi,

719
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:31,840
Michelangelo gives that absurd
and misleading description.

720
00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:37,920
Michelangelo’s words
carefully concealed

721
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:40,763
the true meaning
of the sculptures.

722
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:44,120
The torch and the laurel crown,
which Forcellino believes

723
00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:46,760
originally symbolized
the Spirituali notion

724
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:49,760
that Charity was important
but could not save,

725
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:55,319
became a flower garland and a
mirror, representing prudence.

726
00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:03,480
The references to prudence
were undoubtedly double-edged.

727
00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:06,960
Prudent religious thought for
all, and prudent actions

728
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:10,920
for himself given his
dangerous circumstances.

729
00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:14,240
Incredibly, the
artist's cover-up

730
00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:17,194
held for four and
a half centuries.

731
00:48:17,720 --> 00:48:23,840
MUSIC

732
00:48:24,240 --> 00:48:26,320
Michelangelo lived
the rest of his life

733
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:29,800
in a climate of
fear and intimidation.

734
00:48:30,280 --> 00:48:35,120
As Pope, Carafa threatened to
destroy the Last Judgement.

735
00:48:35,720 --> 00:48:38,120
And the Church later
veiled his nudes

736
00:48:38,120 --> 00:48:41,553
in both the Sistine
and Pauline Chapels.

737
00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:47,186
MUSIC

738
00:48:47,600 --> 00:48:50,440
But perhaps fittingly,
even as Carafa tried

739
00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:53,280
to tear Michelangelo
down, others within

740
00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:55,240
the Church were still
asking him to help

741
00:48:55,280 --> 00:48:57,680
protect the Papacy’s image.

742
00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:02,760
He was called upon to salvage
the Basilica of St. Peter,

743
00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:06,280
which had been under
construction since 1506.

744
00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:08,840
The enormous Basilica was
to be a living symbol

745
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:12,080
of the unassailable
power of the Popes.

746
00:49:12,360 --> 00:49:14,160
But the construction
had gotten mired

747
00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:17,360
in corruption and scandal,

748
00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:20,360
and the Church believed
Michelangelo was the only

749
00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:24,400
one who could restore order
and get the project finished.

750
00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:26,640
So under Carafa’s
oppressive rule,

751
00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:31,280
the artist struggled with this
last, overwhelming obligation.

752
00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:35,320
In his final days,
Michelangelo also worked

753
00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:37,840
on a sculpture for
his own tomb.

754
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:40,080
He portrayed himself
as Nicodemus:

755
00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:43,120
The man who visited Christ
on the cross at night,

756
00:49:43,160 --> 00:49:44,840
because he didn’t
have the courage

757
00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:47,467
to worship him openly by day.

758
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:50,960
In this very personal
sculpture, the artist clearly

759
00:49:50,960 --> 00:49:53,360
lamented his own torment
at being unable

760
00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:56,920
to express his true
faith in public.

761
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:05,920
MUSIC

762
00:50:06,200 --> 00:50:08,720
As Michelangelo felt
death approaching,

763
00:50:08,720 --> 00:50:10,360
he burned almost
all the drawings

764
00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:12,936
and letters he had left.

765
00:50:14,507 --> 00:50:19,272
He wanted no one to know his
most intimate thoughts.

766
00:50:24,240 --> 00:50:27,560
Comforted by his bible,
he died in bed

767
00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:31,560
on February 18th 1564.

768
00:50:35,640 --> 00:50:40,530
His body was shepherded out
of town under bails of hay.

769
00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:51,460
MUSIC

770
00:50:52,000 --> 00:50:55,080
In Florence, Michelangelo’s
native city,

771
00:50:55,080 --> 00:50:58,000
hundreds of his fellow
citizens gathered in tears

772
00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:02,760
to pay homage to the man they
called the Divine Artist.

773
00:51:04,880 --> 00:51:08,160
Only in death did
Michelangelo finally escape

774
00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:12,420
the city at the heart
of his inner turmoil.

775
00:51:12,920 --> 00:51:15,320
He spent a lifetime
serving and memorialising

776
00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:18,720
the Church as a loyal
and devout Catholic.

777
00:51:18,800 --> 00:51:21,400
But all the while, the
remarkable artist,

778
00:51:21,440 --> 00:51:25,240
sculpture and architect was
struggling for the courage

779
00:51:25,240 --> 00:51:26,680
to openly represent

780
00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:30,800
what he believed the
Church should become.