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.