seems to have remained with the pope all through the horrors of the Sack of Rome and his nervous retreat to Orvieto, though he seems to have spent time in Venice in 1528 and perhaps 1529, his first known return there since 1511. This catastrophe brought to an end the High Renaissance epoch in Rome, scattering Raphael's workshop and the emerging Roman Mannerists, and largely destroying the confidence of patrons. In 1531 the death of the previous holder allowed Sebastiano to press Pope Clement for the lucrative office of the "piombatore", which he obtained after promising to pay a fixed sum of 300 scudi annually to the other main contender, Giovanni da Udine, who was also a painter, from Raphael's workshop. To hold the position he had to take vows as a friar, despite having a wife and two children. After this his paintings, which are more often signed than dated, carry signatures such as "F(rater) Sebastianus Ven(etus)". 1532–1547 Sebastiano's artistic output reduced after taking the court role, though possibly not by as much as Vasari suggests. Large projects, even of a single painting, could take many years to complete, as with a Pieta for Spain. This was the last piece where Michelangelo helped him with a drawing. Vasari, probably much influenced by Michelangelo, places great emphasis on Sebastiano's turning away from art for a comfortable life as a well-paid courtier from this point, but may overstate the reality. His friendship with Michelangelo came to an end in 1534, after a disagreement over the latter's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. Sebastiano encouraged the pope to insist that this picture should be executed in oil on plaster, the technique he had developed and used. The enormous wall was prepared with the smooth plaster needed for this, with Michelangelo apparently acquiescent. There may even have been the idea floated that Sebastiano might do the painting to Michelangelo's designs. Michelangelo may also have tried painting in oils on the smooth surface. It is clear that several months after the idea of using oils first appeared, Michelangelo finally and furiously rejected it, and insisted that the whole wall be re-plastered in the rough arriccio needed as a base for fresco. It was on this occasion that he famously said that oil painting was "an art for women and for leisurely and idle people like Fra Sebastiano". Two late projects for churches were never