Michelangelo's Poetry and Iconography in the Heart of the Reformation

Contextualizing Michelangelo’s poetry and spirituality in the frame of the religious Zeitgeist of his era this study investigates his poetic production to shed new light on the artist’s religious beliefs and unique language of art. Ambra Moroncini proposes a thought-provoking argument which reveals how in the second quarter of the sixteenth century in Italy, Michelangelo’s poetry and aesthetic conception were strongly inspired by the revived theologia crucis of evangelical spirituality, rather than by the theologia gloriae of Catholic teaching.