In 1549, a copy of Michelangelo’s Pietà from St. Peter’s was installed in Santo Spirito in Florence (Figure 1).1 Commissioned by the artist’s great friend and poetic collaborator, Luigi del Riccio, the work was undoubtedly meant as a celebration of Michelangelo’s achievements and the relationship between the two men.2 Public reaction to the installation of the copy, however, reveals the complexities of Michelangelo’s artistic and religious reputation in the last decades of his life.