Pope julius ii biography channel 7

This is with good reason: his pontificate, which lasted from to , was an action-packed and often terrifying Renaissance blockbuster. The television channel Showtime had a huge hit in with its series The Borgias. He was a formidable man of action, riding at the head of his armies and leading troops into battle. There were great victories and hard losses.

But are the political and military events of his reign why Julius is most interesting to us today, or should we perhaps look elsewhere for his lasting legacy? Surely it is his contribution to the art of the High Renaissance which endures.

The nephew of Sixtus IV, he fled Rome in to escape assassination by Alexander VI. Elected pope in , Julius set out to restore the Papal States.

He was one of the most important patrons in the history of European art. It is his staggeringly ambitious and successful patronage of art and architecture which most often touches our lives today. It is almost unthinkable to imagine the patrimony of the Church without Julius. Is this a controversial view? Julius the general founded the Swiss Guards, but Julius the benefactor commissioned Michelangelo to design their uniforms.

His legacy is forever entwined with that of three artistic geniuses: Bramante, Michelangelo and Raphael. These works are keystones in the history of art. All three of these artists responded to the energy and agenda — the challenge — of Julius. If we close our eyes to these most famous commissions for a moment and look only at the apse of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome, we really do begin to appreciate the point.