There is an austerity of power here that ill consorts with the tender domesticity of the scene, and the Child is a young Hercules.

The nude figures in the background introduce an alien element and suggest the conflict between Christianity and paganism, the new religion and the old: in short, the Twilight of the Gods.

Whether Michelangelo intended this we shall not know; but there it is.

The prevailing impression left by the picture is immense power and virtuosity and no religion.

In the beautiful Luca Signorelli--No.74--next it, we find at once a curious similarity and difference.