RE-ENACTMENT OF MICHELANGELOS FUNERAL. ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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February 18^th 1564. Michelangelo Buonarroti, the great sculptor, painter and architect, dies at his home in one of Rome’s poorest neighborhoods.

STUDY OF MICHELANGELO, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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At dawn the following day, agents of the Pope arrive at his workshop to search for anything of value he may have left behind. But they find almost nothing.

Before he died, Michelangelo set fire to all the drawings and private papers in his possession.

MICHELANGELO’S CORPSE , RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Soon after, his corpse disappears, carried off in secret to Florence. Shockingly, the powerful Church Michelangelo served for half a century, is denied the opportunity to honor him with a state funeral.

VIEW OF ST. PETER’S, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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For four and a half centuries, the mysterious end to Michelangelo’s life has inspired speculation and rumor. But now, art historian Antonio Forcellino has made a startling discovery that reveals a dark truth about Michelangelo’s final years.

FORCELLINO IN HIS STUDIO. ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Strange inconsistencies from one famous sculpture have led Forcellino on an investigation that has turned up evidence of intentional deception, and close contact with members of a clandestine fellowship so threatening, its radical ideas were punishable by death under the Inquisition.

CARDINAL CARAFA, GROUP OF CARDINALS, MICHELANGELO’S STATUE OF MOSES, FORCELLINO IN THE ARCHIVE OF MANTIVA, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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It seems that even as Michelangelo was glorifying the Catholic Church with his sculptures and artwork, his heart and mind were leading him down a dangerous road of heresy and dissent.

PANORAMIC SHOT OF ROME, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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TITLE: MICHELANGELO REVEALED

Panoramic shot of Rome, Sixtine Chapel, CTV

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It is here in the heart of Rome, that Italy's most famous artist created some of his best-known masterpieces:

The frescoes that decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and his Last Judgement.

VIEW OF PIAZZA DEL POPOLO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Michelangelo’s home and workshop are long gone, but the neighborhood is still dotted with churches.

FORCELLINO IN ROME, THEN ST. PETER IN VINCOLI, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Art historian Antonio Forcellino knows these churches well. As a restoration expert, he has worked in many of them. But his efforts in this one, San Pietro in Vincoli, turned up some unexpected results…

FORCELLINO ON SCAFFOLD, PANORAMIC SHOT OF ROME, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Forcellino is a distinguished and well-known researcher of Michelangelo’s technique. In 1999, he was appointed to restore one of the artist’s most famous works: The Moses…

FORCELLINO IN FRONT OF THE TOMB OF GIULIO II, STAUTE OF MOSES, PANORAMIC SHOT OF ROME, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

I came here one evening and waited till all the tourists who come here every day had gone and I felt totally intimidated. I was afraid to touch an icon that was in the hearts, in the photographs of people across the entire planet.

MICHELANGELO SCULPTING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

DETAILS OF STATUE: CTV AND SCALA ARCHIVE

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Michelangelo created the Moses in 1513. He was 37, and had already made his mark with two other masterpieces:  The Pietà for St. Peter’s Basilica, and The David for the city of Florence.

He was a rising star, on his way to becoming the Catholic Church's favorite artist.  His Moses was considered a museum piece in Italy before it was even out of his workshop.

FORCELLINO RESTORING, GANGA FILM

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As Forcellino set to work on the statue, he could see Michelangelo's artistic genius up close.

The finely rendered veins of Moses' powerful arms…

The intricate beard…

The strong, charismatic face…

And the horns, which are meant to signify rays of divine light.

FORCELLINO RESTORING, GANGA FILM

Forcellino

It’s extraordinary... it really looks like flesh...

FORCELLINO RESTORING, GANGA FILM

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The sculpture was exceptional, but during the months of restoration, Forcellino and his colleagues began to notice some serious imperfections in the masterpiece.

The left leg was strangely angled, and much smaller than the right...

INTERVIEW WITH FORCELLINO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

There was a difference of almost three inches in the diameter of one knee compared to the other.

FORCELLINO IN LIBRARY, ORIGINAL SHOOTING, AND DETAILS OF THE MOSES STATUE, GANGA FILM

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Also, Forcellino noticed that on the left side, the neck was oddly distorted, though the right side looked fine. 

And the beard was surprisingly asymmetrical.

INTERVIEW FORCELLINO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING AND GANGA FILM

STATUE OF MOSES DETAILS, LA CIE DES TAXI-BROUSSE AND JEMOLO

Forcellino

On the left Michelangelo created such an intricate web of locks that it was difficult for us to get in there with the cotton swabs to clean, while on the right the beard is totally flat.

FORCELLINO RESTORING, GANGA FILM, DETAILS OF THE STATUE, JEMOLO

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As Forcellino worked on the statue, he began to suspect that Michelangelo had radically altered it just before it was finished. 

And this wasn’t the only sculpture with inconsistencies.

FORCELLINO RESTORING, GANGA FILM, VIEW OF ST. PETER’S, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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The Moses is the centerpiece of a funeral monument. The tomb of Julius the 2^nd, one of the greatest Popes of the Renaissance.

A patron of the arts, Julius understood how paintings, sculpture and architecture could convey the Church’s message to the masses. He laid the foundation stone for St. Peter’s Basilica in 1506.

But it is for his achievements on the battlefield and his fiery temperament that he is best remembered: more of a volcanic warrior king than a holy father.

STAUE OF POPE JULIUS II, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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And yet, this is how Michelangelo portrayed him: lying down in an upper niche...  small and submissive.

FORCELLINO IN FRONT OF THE TOMB, ORIGINAL SHOOTING, DETAILS: GANGA FILM

Forcellino

I was immediately struck by Michelangelo’s portrayal of the Pope. Traditionally the Pope is shown either lying in state, dead but sacred, or as a triumphant General. This Pope seemed to speak another language. He seemed fragile, vanquished...

STATUE OF POPE JULIUS II, DETAILS: GANGA FILM AND ORIGINAL SHOOTING BY DOCLAB

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No one had paid much attention to the Pope before, because the statue had been dismissed as the work of a second-rate sculptor, who Michelangelo had sub-contracted to finish the statues on the upper tier of the tomb. 

But on closer examination, it became clear to Forcellino that the Pope could only have been created by Michelangelo.

STATUE OF POPE JULIUS II, DETAILS: GANGA FILM AND ORIGINAL SHOOTING BY DOCLAB

Forcellino

In the statue of the Pope we don’t find the rigid mannequin-like faces of the other statues, but a very convincing human expression. These hands too are typical of Michelangelo. These pronounced knuckles and the wide and deep-set nails.

FORCELLINO IN FRONT OF THE TOMB, STATUE OF POPE JULIUS II ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Other experts agreed, and it is now generally accepted that the Pope is Michelangelo’s.

FORCELLINO IN FRONT OF THE TOMB, STATUE OF POPE JULIUS II, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

But we still had to understand why Michelangelo had chosen to represent the papacy in such an unusual way...

MICHELANGELO IN HIS STUDY, ORIGINAL SHOOTING, RE-ENACTMENT

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Michelangelo first met Pope Julius the 2^nd in 1505. The Pope was impressed by the young man’s talent, and appreciated his independent spirit. The two would come to admire each other greatly. Julius’s tomb would be the artist’s first papal commission—the beginning of a relationship with the Holy See that would define the rest of his life.

DETAIL OF MICHELANGELO’S TOMB OF JULIUS II, JEMOLO, FORCELLINO RESTORING, GANGA FILM

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But their affection for each other makes Michelangelo’s unusual portrayal of the Pope all the more strange.

Other statues prove equally perplexing.

DETAILS “ACTIVE LIFE”, CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE”: GANGA FILM

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Michelangelo called these statues The Active Life…

…and The Contemplative Life.

The figures, which had been represented in Church art since medieval times, normally symbolize the two Catholic paths to salvation: 

Faith by The Contemplative Life, and Good Works or charity by The Active Life.

DETAILS “ACTIVE LIFE”, CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE”: ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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The art history books Forcellino consulted, said The Active Life holds a garland of flowers in her left hand…

…and a mirror in her right. 

But close up, Forcellino could see that the objects were not as described. The garland appeared to be a crown of laurel leaves. 

And the mirror was some kind of torch...

FORCELLINO IN FRONT THE STATUE OF MOSES, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

We realized it couldn’t under any circumstances be a mirror.  It looked more like a torch or a small lantern.... 

DETAILS “ACTIVE LIFE”, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Forcellino was surprised that no other art historians had noticed the incongruities.

FORCELLINO IN HIS STUDY, ORIGINAL SHOOTING, MICHELANGELO DRAWING, CONDIVI WRITING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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He decided more research was necessary. 

Bypassing other texts, he went straight to the original source.

He turned to Michelangelo’s official biography, which the artist had personally dictated to a young scribe, Ascanio Condivi, near the end of his life in 1551.

MICHELANGELO DRAWING, CONDIVI WRITING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING INTERVIEW FORCELLINO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

Michelangelo paid very close attention to the symbols in his works; every tiny iconographic detail is precisely thought out, very carefully elaborated. 

INTERVIEW FORCELLINO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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In the pages dedicated to the Pope’s tomb, Forcellino made a surprising discovery.  Michelangelo himself was to blame for the misleading descriptions.

Interview Forcellino, Original Shooting

Forcellino

The biography describes the Active Life - and it’s Michelangelo who dictated the description - as a female figure who looks at herself in a mirror. But it’s clearly visible that what she’s holding is not a mirror but an object I interpret to be a torch, an oil lamp.

Interview Forcellino, Original Shooting

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It seems like a minor discrepancy, but during Michelangelo’s time, it was immensely significant.  Since none but the Clergy had access to the written words of the Bible, most people were heavily influenced by religious imagery.

So what motive could Michelangelo have had for incorrectly describing his work?

FORCELLINO IN FRONT THE STATUE OF MOSES, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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To find that answer, Forcellino would need to dig deep into the historical records.  And so began an obsessive search for the true meaning behind Michelangelo’s work. 

FORCELLINO IN ST. PETER IN VINCOLI, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Setting aside second-hand accounts of Michelangelo’s life, and even the artist’s own biography, Forcellino turned to the actual contracts written up between Michelangelo and Pope Julius the 2^nd.

FORCELLINO IN THE LIBRARY, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Under the terms of the first document, dated 1505, the tomb was to be a grandiose tribute to Julius' imperial Papacy—a huge, three-tiered monument featuring no fewer than 40 biblical and mythical figures.

Michelangelo was to be paid generously, but it would be a long time before he finished the project.

FORCELLINO IN THE LIBRARY, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

SIXTINE CHAPEL, CTV

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Almost from day one, Julius distracted the artist with other projects.

In 1508, he asked Michelangelo to decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, an enormous undertaking that occupied him full time for five years…

…and earned him universal recognition as the world’s greatest living painter.

FORCELLINO IN THE LIBRARY, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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TIGHT

The Pope’s tomb was still just a project on paper when Julius died in 1513.  In the years that followed, Michelangelo was routinely pressured by successive Popes to ignore his obligations to Julius, and work for them.

Julius’ heirs, meanwhile, accused Michelangelo of embezzlement for accepting their money but not completing the tomb.

MICHELANGELO SCULPTING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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In the end, it would be forty years before the artist finished the project. And the tomb’s final appearance was a mere shadow of its original grandious design.

It went down in history as a pastiche of odds and ends with no particular meaning that an aging Michelangelo had cobbled together, simply to end the 40-year wrangle with the Pope's family.

And yet, something told Forcellino there was more to it than that...

STATUES AT THE ANGEL’S BRIDGE IN ROME, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

FORCELLINO ON HIS BYCILCE CROSSING THE BRIDGE, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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He went back to Michelangelo’s biography for an account of the final negotiations over the tomb’s completion. Forcellino noticed that Michelangelo had highlighted the role of an obscure Cardinal—Ercole Gonzaga—in establishing the final design of the monument in 1542.

FORCELLINO BY FOOT, THEN STUDIO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

Condivi’s biography mentioned in passing a person who had never been studied in relation to Michelangelo before  – the Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga. Condivi says Gonzaga had seen the Moses in Michelangelo’s workshop and said that that sculpture alone would be enough to honor Julius II.

FORCELLINO READING, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Michelangelo had originally created the Moses for the Pope’s tomb back in 1513. But as the project was scaled down, the sculpture had been set aside as too large. It reappeared in the plans in 1542, at Gonzaga’s suggestion.

FORCELLINO READING, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

CARDINALS, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Gonzaga was a distinguished political and religious figure during the mid 16^th Century, and a close relative of Pope Julius the 2^nd.

The Cardinal had been a mediator in the tense negotiations with Michelangelo for years.

FORCELLINO ON HIS WAY IN THE CAR IN MANTOVA. MANTOVA ARCHIVE. ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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He came from a wealthy family that governed the city-state of Mantua, one of the most refined and forward-thinking courts in Italy. His papers are preserved in the city’s archives.

FORCELLINO IN THE PUBLIC ARCHIVE IN MANTOVA, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

Gonzaga corresponded with the Pope, with the Emperor, Charles V, and with the ambassadors of the great European powers. He was a major player. Among his papers I found a number of letters about Michelangelo, they’d never been published.

FORCELLINO IN THE PUBLIC ARCHIVE IN MANTOVA, ORIGINAL SHOOTING. REGINALD POLE AND VITTORIA COLONNA, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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The letters featuring Michelangelo were to two leading European personalities of the time: A powerful English Cardinal named Reginald Pole, and the Roman noblewoman and poet, Vittoria Colonna.

Gonzaga, Pole and Colonna were evidently close friends—they corresponded and met frequently.  Michelangelo was clearly well-known to them—his name is mentioned often.

FORCELLINO IN THE PUBLIC ARCHIVE IN MANTOVA, ORIGINAL SHOOTING.

Forcellino

Gonzaga’s private letters ushered me into this obscure and insidious realm, this web of relations among a group of people who were close to Michelangelo around 1545.

FORCELLINO IN THE PUBLIC ARCHIVE IN MANTOVA, ORIGINAL SHOOTING.

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Gonzaga and the others admired Michelangelo, but they were also involved in much bigger matters than sculpture and art. 

They were part of a religious renaissance that was threatening the very foundations of the Catholic Church.

WOMEN RUNNING, SOLDIERS. RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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The conflict centered around an ever-widening religious battle between the Catholic Church, and reform-minded Protestants.

MARTIN LUTHER, STILL, LA CIE DES TAXI-BROUSSE

POPE LEO X WITH CARDINALS, STILL, SCALA ARCHIVE

PORTRAIT OF POPE PAUL III WITH NEPHEWS, SCALA ARCHIVE

PORTRAIT OF POPE PAUL III, SCALA ARCHIVE

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Martin Luther and his Protestant supporters railed against the moral decadence of the Church: the sale of forgiveness or Indulgences, the ostentatious wealth of the Papacy, and the corruption that was rife among the clergy.

For the first time in 1500 years, the Catholic Church was in deep crisis.

REGINALD POLE, GONZAGA, VITTORIA COLONNA IN THE GARDEN. ORIGINAL SHOOTING

CORRIDOR OF THE PUBLIC ARCHIVE AMNTOVA, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Colonna, Pole and Gonzaga were on the front lines of this religious debate. They were among an increasing number of loyal Catholics throughout Italy who embraced the idea of a profound renewal of the Catholic faith. 

They wanted reform, but believed it could be achieved from within the Church—thus preventing a split with the Protestants.

REGINALD POLE, GONZAGA, VITTORIA COLONNA IN THE GARDEN. ORIGINAL SHOOTING

SCENES OF TORTURE, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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But the Church orthodoxy was threatened by the idea of reform, and the conservatives were willing to go to extreme measures to prevent it.

FORCELLINO READING, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

At this point, the story of the group around Michelangelo when he made the tomb became more important for me than the story of the tomb itself.

MEETING OF THE SPIRITUALI

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Historical sources confirm that Gonzaga, Pole and Colonna were prominent Italian reformists, and their letters demonstrate that they held Michelangelo in high regard.  But were they simply art enthusiasts, or was there more to their admiration?

FORCELLINO ON HIS BYCICLE, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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To try and find out, Forcellino sought out Alexander Nagel, an art historian who has studied how Michelangelo was influenced by the religious debate of his day.

Nagel believes that Michelangelo and Vittoria Colonna had a friendship that transcended art.

INTERVIEW ALEXANDER NAGEL, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Nagel

It’s not known exactly when Michelangelo met Vittoria Colonna but it probably occurred in the 1530s. Every account we have of their relationship suggests that it was a very powerful one. 

MICHELANGELO AND VITTORIA COLONNA IN THE STUDIO, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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A celebrated poet in her lifetime, Colonna came from one of Rome’s most established noble families.

MICHELANGELO AND VITTORIA COLONNA IN THE STUDIO, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

INTERVIEW ALEXANDER NAGEL, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Nagel

We have several letters between them and they are rich with information about how they felt about each other and how they felt about art and poetry and religion.

MICHELANGELO AND VITTORIA COLONNA IN THE STUDIO, MICHELANGELO DRAWING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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From their writings, it emerges that Michelangelo, though a devout Catholic, shared Colonna’s yearning for religious reform. In one letter, the artist supports an idea central to Luther’s attack on the Church.

INTERVIEW ALEXANDER NAGEL, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Nagel

He says “La grazia divina non si può comprare” that means divine grace cannot be bought; it cannot be earned, you can’t do good things or pay money to have a chapel founded in church or pay money to have masses said for your soul and expect that that’s going to save you.”

MICHELANGELO WRITING, CARDINALS, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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It is clear from his letters that Michelangelo was increasingly concerned about what would happen to his soul after he died.  The Catholic Church told him he could earn his place in heaven by having faith and doing Good Works, like going to mass, giving to charity and supporting the Church financially.

But the Protestants said he could do nothing to earn his salvation—because salvation came from faith, and faith alone.

CARDINALS, MICHELANGELO WRITING,  VITTORIA COLONNA READING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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From their exchanges, it emerges that at least in private, both Michelangelo and Colonna took the Protestant view on this extremely delicate question.

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But if Michelangelo was questioning the theology of the Church, he must also have struggled with his own role in furthering it.

INTERVIEW ALEXANDER NAGEL, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Nagel

Artists were very much part of the problem, most artists at this time were making religious art, you would have fresco paintings made for a chapel you might have your tomb made for the chapel, have it nicely decorated. This is the work that artists did.

MICHELANGELO IN HIS STUDIO, SCULPTING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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For Michelangelo, the problem was uniquely acute. His main client was not just any church but the Holy See itself, which saw in his art a formidable instrument of mass communication.

Michelangelo created masterpieces for the Church, but in Gonzaga’s papers, Forcellino also found references to drawings the artist had made for Vittoria Colonna. 

Their message was more personal than his paintings for the Vatican Palazzos.

INTERVIEW ALEXANDER NAGEL, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Nagel

They don’t cost a lot of money in any material sense but they’re filled with meaning. And it is in discussing those drawings that Michelangelo makes his most trenchants comments about the system of religious art, church art, which is also the business of indulgences, of endowments, of good works essentially. We needed to return to Christ and these drawings do that in a very powerful way.

MICHELANGELO’S DRAWING OF THE PIETA’, STILL, LA CIE DES TAXI-BROUSSE

FORCELLINO READING, ORIGINAL SHOOTING,

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The drawings leave the Church completely out of the picture, bringing Christ directly to the people.  They circulated among Gonzaga’s friends, and Michelangelo appears to have dedicated one to Reginald Pole, the English  CARDINAL destined to have a central role in the religious clashes that were about to occur.

POLE WRITING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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Pole was among the most powerful and respected CARDINALS of his day.  For help understanding him, Forcellino turns to Professor Thomas Mayer.

MAYER AND FORCELLINO IN THE PARK, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Mayer

It's important to say that he is of the highest English nobility. Pole is, although not first in line for the throne when he was born, close; and he is sent to Italy by Henry VIII, to Padua, he gets the best imaginable education, he meets everybody, he goes back to England, expected to become archBishop of Canterbury, that's the spiritual head of the English church. So, he is right in the middle of that. And then he leaves England in 1532.

MAYER AND FORCELLINO IN THE PARK, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

PORTRAIT OF POPE PAUL III, STILL, SCALA ARCHIVE

CARDINAL POLE WRITING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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01:25:35

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Pole returned to Italy at a critical moment. Pope Paul the 3^rd, elected in 1534, inspired great hope among Italian reformers. He made Pole and other men Cardinals, but ultimately, his commitment to change would prove limited.

MEETING OF THE SPIRITUALI, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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By 1541, Pole had become Papal Governor of Viterbo, a town near Rome. His personal charisma made him the focal point for a network of reform-minded Bishops, theologians and humanists, as well as poets and artists. Among them were Vittoria Colonna and Ercole Gonzaga.

FORCELLINO AT HIS COMPUTER, ORIGINAL  SHOOTING

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Forcellino’s references call the group The Spirituali… 

INTERVIEW ALEXANDER NAGEL, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Nagel

They were for the most part extremely privileged people, extremely well educated, who had a very spiritual conception of religion, which now we recognize as sympathetic to Protestantism. But in the moment their positions were not protestant positions, they were positions that were possible within traditions of thinking about man’s relationship to god.

FORCELLINO IN HIS STUDIO, ORIGINAL  SHOOTING

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Loyal Catholics, they saw in Pole a leader who could define a middle ground, heal the divide with the Protestants, and lead the Church into a more spiritual era.

FORCELLINO AT HIS COMPUTER, ORIGINAL  SHOOTING

MICHELANGELO’S DRAWING OF THE CRICIFIX, STILL, LA CIE DES TAXI-BROUSSE

Forcellino

Michelangelo is very close to this group in these years. He is clearly a member of the group, and produces images that mirror its ideas.

OCHINO’S SERMON, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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In the early 1540s, the Spirituali were at the height of their power and popularity, in Italy and within the Church itself. A profound renewal of the Catholic faith seemed at hand.

CARDINALS, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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But deeply worried by the Spirituali’s growing influence, Conservatives within the Church joined forces to defend their authority.

Their leader was Cardinal Gian Pietro Carafa.

FORCELLINO LEAFS THROUGH A BOOK, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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In a reliable 17^th Century biography, Forcellino comes across an astonishing description…

FORCELLINO READING, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

Carafa is described as the greatest, most glorious and pitiless persecutor of heresy in Italy and the greatest, most glorious and pitiless persecutor of the most important group of Italian heretics, that of Reginald Pole and Vittoria Colonna.

FORCELLINO AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY, ROME, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

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01:28:37

:14

Carafa came from an illustrious and noble Neapolitan family. He had personal designs on the Papacy and saw in Pole his main competitor.  Their destinies would become closely intertwined.

THOMAS MAYER AND FORCELLINO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Mayer

They become Cardinals at exactly the same time. The both aspire at some point in their career to very high status. Carafa I think much more actively than Pole did. But other than that they are from very similar backgrounds, I think that’s very important. They are a generation apart in age, and I think that’s very important, cause Carafa assumed on some level a degree of deference from Pole, that Pole was not prepared to give him just because he was older. So Carafa is a personality, I think it matters, that his personality is not shall we say flexible.

CARDINALS, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:29:20

01:29:35

:15

Unlike Pole, who was open to Lutheran ideas, Carafa considered Lutheran synonymous with Heretical. Austere and rigid, he became the Spirituali’s fiercest enemy.

CARDINALS, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

THOMAS MAYER AND FORCELLINO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Mayer

Carafa makes common cause with the most conservative faction in Rome. The ones who want to keep business absolutely as usual. They have tremendous power. That’s a brilliant move. Pole has poets and artists and people who are not use to discipline. So Carafa has an advantage there.

CARDINALS, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:30:06

01:30:13

:07

With Carafa out to destroy the Protestants and the Spirituali, Michelangelo was caught in the crossfire.

MICHELANGELO SCULPTING, DRAWING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:30:17

01:30:34

:17

Since 1536, the artist had been on salary as the Vatican’s supreme architect, sculptor and painter.  In 1541, he finished the Last Judgment, a fresco representing Christ’s Second Coming for the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.

Detail of the LAST Judgement by Michelangelo, La CIE des Taxi-Brousse

01:30:39

01:30:50

:11

But Carafa led an assault on the work, declaring the masterpiece’s naked bodies obscene and immoral—totally inappropriate for a Christian chapel.

Detail of the LAST Judgement by Michelangelo, La CIE des Taxi-Brousse

01:30:58

01:31:29

:31

Michelangelo was devastated.

He wrote in anguish: “What judgment shall be so barbarous as to deny that man’s foot is nobler than his boot? And that his skin is nobler than that of the sheep with which he covers himself?”

His sensibility was the essence of the Renaissance. The focus was on man, not on the Church.

MICHELANGELO DRAWING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:31:36

01:31:49

:13

Fortunately for Michelangelo, Pope Paul the 3^rd immediately came to his defense.  He showed his support by offering the artist another high-profile, Papal commission.

MICHELANGELO DRAWING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

Despite the scandal over Michelangelo’s nudes, Pope Paul III obliged him to decorate his private chapel, the Pauline Chapel, where Michelangelo would paint nude angels that are even more beautiful, more sensual, than those in the Last Judgment.

INTERVIEW FORCELLINO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

MICHELANGELO’S CRUCIFIXION OF ST. PETER, DETAIL, LA CIE DES TAXI-BROUSSE

01:32:16

01:32:40

:24

Carafa denounced Michelangelo’s frescos as indecent, but in truth, the nudity was only a secondary offence. What Carafa and his fellow Conservatives really opposed was the lack of concessions to the Church hierarchy. There are no depictions of Popes or Bishops in their ritual vestments. Christ speaks directly to St. Paul.

MICHELANGELO’S CRUCIFIXION OF ST. PETER, DETAIL, LA CIE DES TAXI-BROUSSE

MICHELANGELO READING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:32:42

01:32:55

:13

Forcellino believes Michelangelo drew his inspiration for the piece, from a passage that formed the foundation of Protestant belief.  Christ says to Paul “whoever believeth in me shall be saved.”

MICHELANGELO READING, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:32:57

01:33:24

:28

It’s not a stretch to assume Michelangelo knew the verse. We know from his contemporaries that the artist owned a bible, and since he didn’t read Latin, his copy was likely the illegal Italian version.

The first translations were into German by Martin Luther, but other editions, including the Italian, soon followed. Possession of any bible by non-Clergy was considered a crime against the Church.

MICHELANGELO’S STATUE OF POPE PAUL II, DETAIL, GANGA FILM

01:33:26

01:33:36

:10

In March of 1542, 40 years after he began, Michelangelo finally dedicated himself to finishing the tomb of Julius the 2^nd.

CARDINALS IN THE GARDEN, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

CARDINAL CARAFA, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

CARDINALS, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:33:44

01:34:09

:25

But once again, he was caught up in the religious conflict.

That summer, Carafa went on the offensive, convincing Paul the 3^rd to reinstate the Inquisition as a means of attacking Protestants, and their sympathizers within the Church.

The Pope appointed Carafa Inquisitor General, but initially gave him no funds, a balancing act typical of his Papacy.

POLE AND CARAFA, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

TORTURE SCENES, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:34:10

01:34:19

01:34:20

01:34:30

:09

:10

Carafa could attack the Protestants openly, but he had to be more careful with the Spirituali, since the Pope still held Cardinal Pole in high regard.

So Carafa bidded his time, slowly gathered evidence against Pole while using his prosecutorial powers to go after less well-protected informers. REFORMERS?

OCHINO’S SERMON, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:34:34

01:34:53

:19

His first victim was Bernardino Ochino, an itinerant preacher from Siena, famous for the beauty and power of his sermons. Ochino was a close friend of Vittoria Colonna, and had a strong following throughout Italy.

OCHINO AND GONZAGA, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:34:59

01:35:17

:18

Carafa summoned Ochino to Rome, to justify some questionable themes in his sermons.

Fearing arrest, Ochino instead decided to head north, towards safety in Protestant Switzerland. Gonzaga saw him off at the frontier. 

POLE AND VITTORIA COLONNA, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

OCHINO’S ESCAPE, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:35:21

01:35:39

:18

On the run, a scared but liberated Ochino wrote to Colonna.

“I’ve decided to flee, as it is clear that in Rome they want to reform the Church, starting with my death. Now I can finally take off the mask and say the truth...”

POLE AND VITTORIA COLONNA, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

OCHINO’S ESCAPE, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:35:41

01:35:52

:11

Concerned about Colonna’s safety, Pole persuaded her to hand the letter over to the Inquisition, and dissociate herself from her friend in trouble.

GONZAGA, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

OCHINO’S ESCAPE, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:35:54

01:36:05

:08

She did so, but Ochino’s letter and flight gave Carafa just the ammunition he needed to build internal support for his crackdown against Pole and the Spirituali.

FORCELLINO READING, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:36:11

01:36:14

:03

The threat continued to build.

MICHELANGELO IN THE STREET, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

GONZAGA IN THE STREET, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:36:15

01:36:24

:09

The group was forced underground, where they continued work on their reformist manifesto: The Benefit of Christ’s Death.

POLE AND VITTORIA COLONNA IN THE STREET, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

MEETING OF THE SPIRITUALI, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

The group met in Viterbo to prepare the book for publication. They printed 40,000 copies, although the manuscript was already circulating widely among Italian reformers.

INTERVIEW THOMAS MAYER, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:36:57

Mayer

It’s written in pretty direct prose. And it’s stuffed with quotations from the fathers of the Church with a slightly off twist in the emphasis. The crucial point about the emphasis is that the institutional Church is not there at all.

DETAIL OF MICHELANGELO’S TEXT “THE BENEFIT OF CHRIST”, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

MEETING OF THE SPIRITUALI, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:37:06   

01:37:24

:18

The text embraced the Protestant view that Faith in Christ’s sacrifice was the key to salvation. 

Although Pole made sure that Good Works were given some weight, the implication was that the Church and its sacraments played no role in the salvation of mankind.

INTERVIEW FORCELLINO,  ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

It’s published anonymously of course and it’s immediately targeted by the Inquisition, which begins to hunt down the authors and takes the book out of circulation.

MEETING OF THE SPIRITUALI, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:37:39

01:37:52

:13

Carafa declared it heretical and censored it. Reginald Pole and Vittoria Colonna, suspected of being among the publishers, were brought before the Inquisition for interrogation.

VIEW OF ST. PETER’S, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

FORCELLINO ENTERING THE LIBRARY, ELEVATOR, ARCHIVE INTERIOR, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:38:01

01:38:24

:23

Four hundred and fifty years later, Forcellino believes there may still be records of the Inquisition proceedings against the members of the Spirituali.

Many of the transcripts and files have been destroyed, but in the Vatican Archives, he digs up a number of letters from Pole and Colonna that had been intercepted by Carafa’s spies.

ARCHIVE INTERIOR, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

MICHELANGELO IN THE STREET, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:38:29  

01:38:48

:19

One of these letters contains an unexpected reference to Michelangelo.

Written by Vittoria Colonna, it mentions the 1543 meeting at which the Spirituali prepared their manifesto for publication. 

The document clearly states that Michelangelo was in attendance.

MEETING OF THE SPIRITUALI, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

MICHELANGELO AND VITTORIA COLONNA, RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:38:50 

01:39:11

:21

The artist apparently brought one of his drawings for Colonna.  His presence at such an important meeting proves that Michelangelo not only shared his friends’ ideals, he had direct access to the illegal Spirituali manifesto at the very time he was completing the tomb of Julius the 2^nd.

FORCELLINO IN THE STREET, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:39:12  

01:39:23

:11

To Forcellino, it’s all starting to make sense.  He believes he can see the influence of the Spirituali religious ideas in Michelangelo’s tribute to the Pope.

COMPUTER MONITOR, ORIGINAL SHOOTING, GRAPHICS BY MAURO VICENTINI

Forcellino

It’s this torch, this source of light in the hands of the Active Life that goes right to the heart of the devotion expressed in the Benefit of Christ’s Death.

INTERIOR OF ST. PETER IN VINCOLI, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:39:38 

01:40:02

:24

In the group’s manifesto, the Spirituali reaffirmed the Protestant belief that only Faith in Christ’s sacrifice could open the doors to paradise.

But to try and placate the Church, they were careful to say that Good Works such as charity were also important. Good Works were the burning flames that illuminated the true faith of the good Christian.

DETAIL OF THE “ACTIVE LIFE” STATUE, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

This figure representing good works, which we see here holding a torch. She doesn’t have the power to save but is able to enlighten, to bring to light the power of faith.

MICHELANGELO’S STATUE OF MOSES, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:40:18

01:40:25

:07

Forcellino believes the Spirituali also inspired Michelangelo’s unusual representation of the Pope.

MICHELANGELO’S STATUE OF OF POPE JULIUS II, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

FORCELLINO EXPLAINING, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

MICHELANGELO’S STATUE OF MOSES, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

MICHELANGELO’S STATUE OF POPE JULIUS II, STILL, JEMOLO

Forcellino

The statue of the Pope, which seemed to me inexplicable at the beginning,  in the end it’s perfectly clear in light of the ideas that this group was cultivating and that they expressed in the Benefit of Christ’s Death. For Michelangelo this was the best possible expression of the Papacy. A Papacy that would distance itself from imperial grandeur and finally dedicate all its energy to the private and urgent meditation of faith.

MICHELANGELO’S STATUE OF MOSES, DETAIL, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:41:03

01:41:25

:21

TIGHT

Forcellino thinks the flaws in the Moses can also be explained by the Spirituali influence.  Supporting his earlier deductions, he finds a record from an anonymous source close to Michelangelo, that the artist had re-carved the statue at the last minute to turn its head to the left. This could explain the strange shoulder, beard, and leg.

INTERVIEW FORCELLINO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

THE PIETA’ RONDANINI BY MICHELANGELO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

We know Michelangelo was capable of doing this because we can see it clearly in the Pietà Rondanini, where Michelangelo repositioned the face of the Madonna by 90 degrees.  Then Michelangelo died and so he never finished the work. But we didn’t know he’d done it on the Moses.

INTERVIEW FORCELLINO, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

COMPUTER MONITOR, ORIGINAL SHOOTING, GRAPHICS BY MAURO VICENTINI

CHRISTOPH FROMMEL INTERVIEW, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:41:54

01:42:13

01:42:15

01:42: 21

:19

:06

When Michelangelo first created the Moses in 1513, the statue looked straight ahead, towards the altar, where the parish Priest holds mass. 

But 40 years (IT’s THIRTY YERARS AFTER 1513... )later, says Forcellino, the artist no longer wanted Moses gazing at the instruments of the Catholic Church.

Christopher Frommel, acclaimed art historian and Forcellino’s mentor, agrees.

CHRISTOPH FROMMEL INTERVIEW, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Forcellino

He could have finished it like it was and be done with it...

FORCELLINO IN FRONT OF THE TOMB OF POPE JULIUS II, GANGA FILM

CHRISTOPH FROMMEL INTERVIEW, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

Frommel

In the original grand project it was supposed to be one of several statues on the highest tier.  It now becomes the protagonist at a time when Michelangelo has great doubts about the official Church and so he doesn’t have him look towards the altar as we would expect; he has him search for the light - he hasn’t found it yet but he’s searching for the light, for a direct contact with God.

COMPUTER MONITOR, ORIGINAL SHOOTING, GRAPHICS BY MAURO VICENTINI

ST. PETER IN VONCOLI INTERIOR, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

MICHELANGELO’S STATUE OF MOSES, DETAIL, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:43:00

01:43:21

:21

By shifting the statue’s gaze away from the altar, Michelangelo reinforced his belief that man’s direct relationship with God is what mattered, not the role of the Priests.

Forcellino is convinced that the artist transformed a monument intended to celebrate a Pope, into the political and religious manifesto of the Spirituali.

CARDINALS IN THE GARDEN, POLE AND GONZAGA, CARAFA, CARDINALS MOVING UP THE STAIRS, CARDINALS AT THE TABLE: RE-ENACTMENT, ORIGINAL SHOOTING

01:43:28

01:43:39

01:43:42

01:43:55

:11

:13

Pope Paul the 3^rd—who had long protected the Spirituali and Michelangelo, even while giving Carafa power to pursue them—died in 1549.

Before he passed away, the Pope indicated that Pole was his choice for succession to the Papacy.  But the Englishman was one vote short of a majority.

Forcellino

We are still in time to avoid a traumatic solution to Europe’s religious crisis, but that hope is dashed by Cardinal Carafa, who intervenes during the Conclave saying he has proof of Pole’s heresy. The proof is Pole’s involvement in the publication of The Benefit of Christ’s Death.

01:44:43

01:44:53

:10

Pole was defeated. 

The Spirituali’s dream of a reformed Church was dashed.