THE CHAPEL OF POPE PAUL, AND THE PIETA OF SANTA MARIA DEL FIORE Michael Angelo wrote a number of sonnets and made many drawings for his friends, especially for the Marchioness of Pescara and Messer Tomaso dei Cavalieri, a noble Roman gentleman.

For him they were generally subjects from Greek and Roman mythology, but for the Marchioness the drawings always represented episodes from the story of the Passion of our Lord.

A Pieta, drawn for this lady, was engraved by Giulio Bonasoni and Tudius Bononiensis in 1546.

There are several drawings in the Print Room of the British Museum and the Windsor and Oxford Collections of this character and period.

One at Oxford was probably the original sent to Vittoria, but all are of the same sacred inspiration; in fact, the religious element becomes very strong indeed in all his later work, just as in the later work of Titian.