 The sketch is a partial plan for one of the radial columns of the cupola drum of Saint Peter's.Michelangelo was a devout Catholic whose faith deepened at the end of his life.His poetry includes the following closing lines from what is known as poem 285 (written in 1554);
""Neither painting nor sculpture will be able any longer to calm my soul, now turned toward that divine love that opened his arms on the cross to take us in.""