is own pornographic dialogues with the Last Judgment in the
Sistine, the covert hint that folk gossiped about Michelangelo's
relations to young men, his sneers at the great man's exclusiveness,
his cruel insinuations with regard to the Tomb of Julius, his devout
hope that Paul will destroy the fresco, and the impudent eulogy of his
precious letter on the Last Day, were all nicely calculated to annoy.
Whether the missive was duly received by Buonarroti we do not know.
Gaye asserts that it appears to have been sent through the post. He
discovered it in the Archives of the Strozzi Palace.

The virtuous Pietro Aretino was not the only one to be scandalised by
the nudities of the Last Judgment; and indeed it must be allowed that
when Michelangelo treated such a subject in such a manner, he was
pushing the principle of art for art's sake to its extremity. One of
the most popular stories told about this work shows that it early
began to create a scandal. When it was three fourths finished, Pope
Paul went to see the fresco, attended by Messer Biagio da Cesena, his
Master of the Ceremonies. On being asked his opinion of the painting,
Messer Biagio replied that he thought it highly improper to expose so
many naked figures in a sacred picture, and that it was more fit for a
place of debauchery than for the Pope's chapel. Michelangelo, nettled
by this, drew the prelate's portrait to the life, and placed him in
hell with horns on his head and a serpent twisted round his loins.
Messer Biagio, finding himself in this plight, and being no doubt
laughed at by his friends, complained to the Pope, who answered that
he could do nothing to help him. "Had the painter sent you to
Purgatory, I would have used my best efforts to get you released; but
I exercise no influence in hell; _ubi nulla est redemptio_." Before
Michelangelo's death, his follower, Daniele da Volterra, was employed
to provide draperies for the most obnoxious figures, and won thereby
the name of _Il Braghettone_, or the breeches-maker. Paul IV. gave the
painter this commission, having previously consulted Buonarroti on the
subject. The latter is said to have replied to the Pope's messenger:
"Tell his Holiness that this is a small matter, and can easily be set
straight. Let him look to setting the world in order: to reform a
picture costs no great trouble." Later on, during the Pontificate of
Pio V., a master named Girolamo da Fano continued the process begun by
Daniele da Vo