Given the sheer volume of surviving documents written by, to, and about Michelangelo, it’s a wonder that we have so many myths relating to the Renaissance Master. Time to see what’s fact, what’s fiction, and what has been exaggerated.

Sigismondo Malatesta is, to date, the only man canonised to Hell. But could his reputation and his ensuing punishment come as the result of other people’s vicious hatred and malicious gossip rather than being rooted in fact?

Meet the woman who stormed the Castel Sant’Angelo without spilling any blood while heavily pregnant, wrote a book on alchemy, trained and led numerous armies, and even managed to turn her captor, Cesare Borgia, into her lover. 

Considered one of the greatest artists of all time, Raphael is clearly highly influenced by other artists. But where do you draw the line? Where is the line between inspiration, quotation and plagiarism? And was Michelangelo's reaction justified?