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Michelangelo’s rivalry with Raphael reaches new heights in Rome, while a violent religious schism engulfs Europe and makes the artist question everything.

As Michelangelo sets to work on the Sistine Chapel, his rival Raphael is working on the pope’s private apartments just a few hundred metres away. Each man is determined to outdo the other and win the favour of the pontiff.

Meanwhile, Raphael unveils The School of Athens: a work of iconic beauty that casts Julius II as the inheritor of the wisdom of the classical world, with the figures of Plato and Aristotle surrounded by great thinkers.

10 months left to watch

59 minutes

SignedAudio described

Last on

Christmas Eve 202403:05

Credits

RoleContributor
NarratorSophie Okonedo
Old MichelangeloCharles Dance
MichelangeloEddie Mann
Leonardo da VinciJonny Glynn
RaphaelJoshua Duffy
DirectorEmma Frank
ProducerRichard Pearson
ProducerEddie Knox
ConsultantJerry Brotton
Executive ProducerAlexander Leith

Broadcasts