Sunset among the Michelangelos, c.1912 (ink & gouache on paper)

Sunset among the Michelangelos appears to express Lewis's vehement rejection of the traditional view that the Italian High Renaissance represented the highest point of artistic achievement. In his highly provocative publication BLAST, first published in 1914, Lewis explicitly criticised Michelangelo's pervasive influence: 'Michelangelo is probably the worst spook in Europe, and haunts English art without respite'; elsewhere he wrote: 'Michelangelo is my Bete-Noir'. In this watercolour, distorted figures or sculptures with a Michelangelesque muscularity appear to melt and disintegrate on rocks against a vivid sky.