In the final drawing the flanking saints are gone, leaving only Jesus, facing oblivion alone on the cross. What a way for an artist to go out. ‘Michelangelo: the last decades’ is on from 2 May ...

By his early twenties, Michelangelo had already carved the Pieta, a sculpture depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the lifeless body of Jesus. It was a masterpiece, brimming with emotion.

Among the pieces are two sketches of the 12 apostles (the disciples of Jesus in the New Testament), which Pope Julius II, who commissioned the work, wanted Michelangelo to include in the upper ...