Art, Trent, and Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment”

Abstract

Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel is one of the world’s most famous paintings, completed in 1542. Greatly admired, it was also criticized for the frontal nudity of some of the figures. Twenty-two years later, 1564, the nudity was painted over, an action attributed to the Council of Trent, 1545–1563. To what extent is that attribution correct?

Keywords

• Michelangelo
• Council of Trent
• Charles de Guise
• Catherine de’ Medici
• iconoclasm
• lascivious