Elected Pope in April 1378 in an attempt to placate the Italian cardinals after decades of French dominancy of the papacy, Urban VI (Bartolomeo Prignano) soon enraged many of the cardinals with his harsh and ill-tempered leadership. This bitterness and hostility prompted a group of thirteen French cardinals to leave Rome and in September 1378 they elected Robert of Geneva, who became the anti-pope Clement VII, thus beginning the Western Schism that was to divide the Roman Catholic church for the next 40 years.
When the painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy it was accompanied by the following lines: 'The pope paced the garden under the window of the torture chamber, reading his breviary aloud, that the sound of his voice might keep the executioner reminded of his functions.' (H.C. Lea, A History of the Inquisition In The Middle Ages, London, 1888, vol 2, p. 558.) referencing the punishments meted out to the Cardinal of Venice and several other cardinals and bishops implicated in the plots against Urban.
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