Lunette: Hezekiah, Manasseh and Amon

Of the three kings named on this tablet, Hezekiah, Manasseh and Amon, the one in the middle had the worst name. The Books of Kings remember Manasseh as the king of Judah who brought back the worship of idols that his father Hezekiah had swept away, and the Books of Chronicles add that he was later led away captive and repented. The hunched man on the right, his face in shadow under a violet hood, is usually identified as Manasseh, sunk in his own thoughts.

Against that gloom Michelangelo set the liveliest figure in the lunette. On the left a young woman cradles a swaddled baby and smiles down at it, while a second child lies in a wicker cradle at her feet. She is usually identified as Meshullemeth, the wife of Manasseh and mother of Amon, though like most names in this series that is a reading, not a certainty. The two sides answer each other in colour as well, the lighter tones on one side and the denser, lit ones on the other picking up the same rose-red. This lunette dates from the first campaign.