Giuliano della Rovere was made Pope in 1503.

Whatever opinion may be formed of him considered as the high-priest of the Christian faith, there can be no doubt that Julius II.

was one of the greatest figures of the Renaissance, and that his name, instead of that of Leo X., should by right be given to the golden age of letters and of arts in Rome.

He stamped the century with the impress of a powerful personality.

It is to him we owe the most splendid of Michael Angelo's and Raphael's masterpieces.