In 1566 there was a tension between the pope's position as head of the Roman Catholic Church and the objects they collected, when the Cardinal Michele Ghislieri was elected pope and took the name of Pius V. This emaciated Dominican friar, sprung from peasant stock, had always lived a life of the greatest austerity-and he made it clear from the moment of his election that he did not intend to change his habits almost the earliest target of his reforming zeal was the sculpture collection of the Belvedere. Within a few weeks of his election it was announced that this was to be dispersed 'because it was not suitable for the successor of St. Peter to keep such idols at home Such feelings were by no …show more content…
In 1527 Andrea Fulvio found it necessary to deny the old story that Pope Gregory the Great had 'ordered that all the most beautiful statues ... should be thrown into the Tiber so