Michelangelo's Last Judgment was the most criticized and discussed painting of the sixteenth century. The subject of the Last Judgment has been a barometer throughout history of cultural mood. It can be interpreted, as Michelangelo did, as the moment when mortals attain eternail bliss or, in more unsettled times, as the terrifying moment when we face the justice of the Lord and are found wanting. This book explores the context, both historical and biographical, in which the fresco was created and the debates about the style and function of religious art that it generated.