Michelangelo shows to pope Leone X the projects for the Fabbrica of San Lorenzo

In this great canvas, Michelangelo is depicted showing to Pope Leone X and to the cardinal Giuliano de’ Medici (later to become Pope Clement VII) the projects of the works of the Mediceo Laurenziano complex. Under a damask curtain, the Pope observes, using a magnifying lens, the project of the biblioteca laurenziana’s staircase and the wooden model of the facade of the church, both placed on a table covered with red velvet.