archivemichelangelo

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), Allegory of a Dream, c. 1541-45, Pen and brown ink, heightened with white, on blue paper, 19.2 x 39.4 cm, The Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth.

Michelangelo's Il Sogno, a Drawing for Tommaso de’ Cavalieri

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), The Fall of Phaeton (inscribed by Michelangelo), 1533, Black chalk, 31.1 x 21.6 cm, The British Museum, London.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), The Dream of Human Life, c. 1533, Black chalk, 39.4 x 27.7 cm, The Courtauld Gallery, London.

Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1557), Seated youth (recto), circa 1525, Black chalk on paper, 40.4 x 28 cm, The Courtauld Gallery, London, from Looking at Michelangelo.

Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564), Sonnet for Tommaso de’ Cavalieri, ‘I do not know if it is the very longed-for light’ (‘Non so se s'è la desiata luce’), c. 1534 / 1546, Pen and ink, 28.5 x 20 cm, Casa Buonarotti, Florence.

The Courtauld Gallery
Somerset House
Strand
+44 (0)20 7848 2526
London
Michelangelo's Dream
February 18-May 16, 2010
Looking at Michelangelo
February 18-May 16, 2010

"Drawings the like of which have never been seen…"

— Giorgio Vasari, 1568

Michelangelo’s masterpiece The Dream (Il Sogno) has been described as one of the finest of all Renaissance drawings and it is amongst The Courtauld Gallery’s greatest treasures. Executed in c. 1533 when Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) was at the height of his career, it exemplifies his unrivalled skill as a draughtsman and his extraordinary powers of invention. Michelangelo’s Dream examines this celebrated work in the context of an exceptional group of closely related drawings by Michelangelo, as well as original letters and poems by the artist and works by his contemporaries.

The Dream is one of Michelangelo’s "presentation drawings", a magnificent and famous group of highly refined compositions which the artist gave to his closest friends. These beautiful and complex works transformed drawing into an independent art form and are amongst Michelangelo’s very finest creations in any medium. The Dream was probably made for a young Roman nobleman called Tommaso de’ Cavalieri, who was celebrated for his outstanding beauty, gracious manners and intellect. Michelangelo had first met him in Rome in the winter of 1532 and had instantly fallen in love. The Dream is likely to have been part of the superb group of drawings which Michelangelo gave to Cavalieri during the first years of their close friendship. This group forms the heart of the exhibition and includes The Punishment of Tityus, The Fall of Phaeton, A Bacchanal of Children, and The Rape of Ganymede. In his Life of Michelangelo (1568) the biographer and artist Giorgio Vasari praised these exceptional works as "drawings the like of which have never been seen" — and they are still regarded as amongst the greatest single series of drawings ever made.

Michelangelo’s drawings for Cavalieri have not been seen together for over 20 years and this is the first time that The Dream will be shown as part of this group. Exceptionally also, The Fall of Phaeton will be reunited with two earlier versions of this composition. Both carry inscriptions in Michelangelo’s hand, one requesting Cavalieri’s approval of the preliminary design.

The exhibition starts with the earliest surviving letter from Michelangelo to Cavalieri, dated 1 January 1533, in which the artist expresses his delight that Cavalieri had agreed to accept the gift of some drawings. Cavalieri is thought to have been no older than 17 at the time and, according to Vasari, Michelangelo’s gifts were primarily intended to teach him how to draw. The mythological stories such as Phaeton falling to earth with the chariot of the sun, the abduction of Ganymede — the most beautiful of mortals — and the punishment of the lustful giant Tityus may also have been intended to offer moral guidance. The drawings certainly also served as expressions of Michelangelo’s love for Cavalieri.

Michelangelo’s ardour is eloquently described in the poems which the artist composed for Cavalieri, mainly in the early phase of their friendship. Five handwritten sonnets are included in the exhibition; most of these are here shown for the first time. Whilst adhering to the conventions of love poetry, these sonnets record with extraordinary intensity Michelangelo’s adoration of the young man whose sublime beauty he regarded as a reflection of God’s eternal beauty on earth. The poetic imagery of dreaming, transcendence and the struggle between the carnal and the spiritual realms offers insight into the meaning and function of the presentation drawings, and The Dream in particular.

The presentation drawings created an immediate sensation at the court of Pope Clement VII in Rome. In an early letter to Michelangelo, included in the exhibition, Cavalieri wrote that they had been admired by "the Pope, Cardinal de Medici and everyone", adding apologetically that the Cardinal had already taken away Ganymede to have a replica made in crystal. The Dream too became famous amongst Renaissance collectors and artists soon after its completion and was copied numerous times. However, its precise meaning has remained elusive. Rather than illustrate a text, the drawing engages with contemporary (neo-Platonic) ideas about the ascent of the soul to the divine, aided by beauty. The composition shows an idealised nude youth reclining against a globe. Masks fill the open plinth on which he is seated. The swirling dreamlike mass of figures surrounding the young man have traditionally been linked with the vices. They enact scenes of gluttony, lust, avarice, wrath, sloth and envy, with a large phallus adding to the carnal imagery. A winged spirit — possibly a personification of beauty and chaste love — approaches the youth with a trumpet, awakening him from the illusions and deceits of the earthly realm to a new spiritual life. A single precise meaning for this complex allegory seems unlikely as the presentation drawings were clearly intended for careful scrutiny and prolonged learned discussion and enjoyment.

A further highlight of the exhibition is a superb group of drawings by Michelangelo of Christ’s resurrection, which concentrate on the heroic nude figure of the reborn Christ leaping free of the tomb and the bondage of life on earth. These drawings offer close thematic and formal comparisons with The Dream. This group includes the glorious Risen Christ— widely celebrated as one of the most magnificent and potent figures in Michelangelo’s art.

The exhibition further investigates the meaning of The Dream in the context of closely related works by Michelangelo’s contemporaries which address themes of rebirth, dreaming and the nature of Man. This section of the exhibition includes Albrecht Dürer’s enigmatic drawing of a bound youth and Giorgio Vasari’s free interpretation of The Dream. The final section of the exhibition focuses on copies of The Dream and illustrates how Michelangelo’s contemporaries and later admirers responded to the puzzling subject matter and the extraordinary technical virtuosity of Michelangelo’s great work.

The friendship between Cavalieri and Michelangelo endured for 30 years. Cavalieri was present at the artist’s death in 1564 and subsequently helped to realise some of his architectural schemes. He so valued the drawings given to him by Michelangelo that Vasari was to say: "… in truth he rightly treasures them as relics."

The exhibition has been developed with the support of major international collections including The Royal Collection, Windsor; The British Museum, London; Casa Buonarotti, Florence; Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome; The Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth; the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne; Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford; Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich; Das Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main; Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge MA, and the Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice.

Bringing together a focused selection of some of the artist’s very finest drawings, Michelangelo’s Dream promises to be one of the most enthralling exhibitions of 2010.

A display of rare Italian 16th century drawings and prints from The Courtauld Gallery’s outstanding permanent collection complements the exhibition Michelangelo’s Dream. Highlights of this rich group are three autograph drawings by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), ranging from his early period in Florence to his very last years in Rome and covering both religious and pagan subjects.

Whilst the vigorously drawn early pen and ink study of Christ before Pilate shows Michelangelo’s extraordinary powers as a narrator of dramatic scenes, his Christ on the Cross gives insight into the profound spirituality of the almost 90-year-old master. This haunting black chalk drawing is one of a group of highly personal late works showing the Crucifixion and it powerfully communicates Michelangelo’s profound reflection on Christ’s death.

Michelangelo never had an organised workshop, preferring to work alone with just a few pupils and assistants. Nevertheless, his work was immensely influential in his own lifetime. The display explores how contemporary artists responded to Michelangelo’s creations. Two drawings by the famous Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto (1519-1594) provide an example of an artist studying Michelangelo through direct copying, whereas Jacopo Pontormo’s (1494-1557) great study of a seated youth shows the inspirational influence of Michelangelo in the development of an exceptional new work.

The display also includes a remarkable large composite print of Michelangelo’s Last Judgement. Made up of ten separate numbered sheets of paper, the print is reassembled and displayed here for the first time.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), Christ on the Cross, 16th century, Black chalk on paper, 27.5 cm x 23.4 cm, The Courtauld Gallery, London, from Looking at Michelangelo.

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), Six nude figures, 1515, Pen and brown ink, 27 x 21.1 cm, Das Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (Florence 1475-Rome 1564), The Torment of Saint Anthony, ca. 1487-88, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Photograph: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Painted at 12 or 13 and Believed to be Michelangelo's First Painting

Francesco Granacci (Francesco di Andrea di Marco, Florentine 1469-1543), The Crucifixion, ca. 1510, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006.409.

Francesco Granacci (Francesco di Andrea di Marco, Florentine 1469-1543), Modonna and Child, ca. 1520, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.420.

Martin Schongauer (German, ca. 1445-1491), Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons, ca. 1470-75, Engraving, first state of two, 11-1/2 x 8-5/8", Rogers Fund, 1920 (20.5.2).

Metropolitan
Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
at 82nd Street
212-535-7710
New York
Gallery 4b, European Paintings, 2nd floor
Michelangelo's
First Painting
June 16-
September 7, 2009

Michelangelo's First Painting presents The Torment of Saint Anthony, the first known painting by Michelangelo Buonarroti (Florence 1475-Rome 1564), believed to have been created when he was 12 or 13 years old. Recently acquired by the Kimbell Art Museum, the painting has undergone conservation and technical examination at the Metropolitan Museum. Michelangelo's First Painting is on view through September 7, after which the panel returns to the Kimbell Art Museum for display as part of its permanent collection.

Today, many people think of Michelangelo as a sculptor, but he received his early training as a painter, in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), a leading master in Florence. It was only in about 1490, following this apprenticeship, that he learned to carve marble. Michelangelo's biographers — Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574) and Ascanio Condivi (1525-1574) — tell us that, aside from some drawings, his first work was a painted copy after a well-known engraving by Martin Schongauer (1448-1491) showing Saint Anthony tormented by demons. To give his monsters greater veracity, Michelangelo went to the fish market to study the colors and scales of the fish. Made about 1487-88 under the guidance of his friend and fellow pupil Francesco Granacci, Michelangelo's painting was much admired — it was even said to have incited Ghirlandaio's envy.

Keith Christiansen, the Jayne Wrightsman Curator of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum, who analyzed The Torment of Saint Anthony and organized this exhibition, concludes: "The case for this panel being the one described by Condivi is exceptionally strong … and given what we know, the burden of proof that it is NOT the picture described by Condivi is with those who would deny it."

Michelangelo's First Painting showcases recent technical examinations and scholarly analyses that identify it as the painting described by Michelangelo's biographers. Though it has been known to scholars since the 1830s, when it was purchased in Pisa by a French sculptor, it has not always received proper attention. Accumulations of discolored varnish and disfiguring overpaints had obscured the qualities of the picture's masterful execution and remarkable color palette. A careful cleaning, carried out by Michael Gallagher, the Metropolitan Museum's Conservator in Charge of Paintings Conservation, transformed the painting, while infrared reflectography revealed how the artist modified and elaborated on Schongauer's composition.

In addition to The Torment of Saint Anthony, this small, focused exhibition will include works from the Metropolitan Museum's collection such as Madonna and Child and Triptych with the Crucifixion by Francesco Granacci (1469-1543); and Portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra (1509-1566), a faithful follower of the master. Also on view will be a facsimile of the aforementioned Schongauer engraving, Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons.

The Torment of Saint Anthony is the first painting by Michelangelo Buonarroti to enter an American collection, and one of only four known easel paintings generally believed to be by him. The others are the Doni Tondo in Florence's Uffizi Gallery and two unfinished paintings in London's National Gallery, The Manchester Madonna and The Entombment.

Daniele da Volterra (Daniele Ricciarelli-Italian, Tuscan, born about 1509, died 1566), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), ca. 1540, Oil on wood, 34-3/4 x 25-1/4", Gift of Clarence Dillon, 1977, 1977.384.1.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Ideal head of a woman (so called "Marchesa di Pescara"), ca. 1525-28.

Michelangelo Buonarroti's Drawings, Authorship and Attribution

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Grotesque heads and further studies, ca. 1524-25.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Ear and two eyes, head of a woman with pinned-up braids, study of a leg, head with headband.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Letter written in Pietrasanta to Pietro Urbano in Florence, Friday 2 April 1518.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Four grotesque heads; study for Hercules and Antaeus, ca. 1524-25.

Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Resurrection of Christ, ca. 1532-33.

Copy after Michelangelo, The Resurrection of Christ, ca. 1560-90 (?).

Michelangelo Buonarroti and pupils, Girl with a spindle, ca. 1525.

die Städel Museum
Städelsches Kunstinstitut
und Städtische Galerie
Schaumainkai 63
0049 (0) 69 60 50 98-0
Frankfurt am Main
Michelangelo.
Drawings and Attributions
6 March-7 June, 2009

Städel Museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings will be presenting an exhibition dedicated to the issue of the attribution of Old Master drawings in the particularly contentious case of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564). Besides his world-famous sculptures, frescoes, and buildings, Michelangelo made a large number of drawings, which compelled great admiration in his day. As he never signed his drawings and burnt a lot of them shortly before his death, it is difficult to determine whether many of the surviving sheets are actually autograph or copies or imitations by other artists. The occasion for the exhibition has been supplied by a drawing in the Städel Museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings whose attribution to Michelangelo was the subject of controversy in the past. Recently, the sheet has again been attributed to Michelangelo by several experts. Presenting a number of selected examples — amongst them precious loans from the collections of the British Museum in London, the Royal Collection in Windsor, and the Casa Buonarroti in Florence — the exhibition grants various possibilities for direct visual comparison, providing visitors with an opportunity for exploring the issue on their own in front of the original works.

The exhibition Michelangelo. Drawings and Attributions is supported by Hannelore Krempa Stiftung.

The sheet from the Städel Museum’s holdings, Grotesque Heads and Further Studies, was purchased as a work by Michelangelo in the 19th century and attributed or partly attributed to the artist since then, before being deattributed around 1980. Since many experts have lately expressed their opinion that the drawing is an autograph work by Michelangelo after all, the plan for an exhibition evolved that would not be limited to dealing with the work in question but rather explore the problem of attribution in a more general way. It should be remembered that the Städel’s “Grotesque Heads” sheet is no “new discovery,” but an example of reattributing a drawing that has been known for a long time.

The Städel Museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings boasts an outstanding collection of Italian Renaissance drawings, which is one of the best in Germany. This collection was mainly built up by the outstanding expert Johann David Passavant (1787-1861), who, as inspector of the gallery, added many valuable acquisitions to the Städel collection from 1840 until his death. The Nazarene painter was a specialist when it came to Raphael, whose drawings number among the Städel collection’s first-class works today. However, Passavant had a less lucky touch when purchasing works by Michelangelo; he only made a few acquisitions which were not free of doubt, which is why the “Grotesque Heads” sheet has aroused comparatively little attention.

The exhibition comprises 24 works. Twelve — partly double-sided — drawings and two letters are (in all probability possible in this matter) entirely or partly autograph works by Michelangelo. The other works are examples for comparison, part of which come from the Städel Museum’s collection. The drawings by Michelangelo include world-famous masterpieces such as the “Ideal Head of a Woman,” “The Resurrection of Christ,” and the study sheet with the admonition to his assistant Antonio Mini.

The exhibition is divided into seven chapters. The first section offers a comparison between a drawing of “Lazarus” by Michelangelo and a drawing by his friend, the painter Sebastiano del Piombo. The latter comes from the Städel Museum’s collection. Both drawings were made for the same painting, “The Raising of Lazarus” executed by Sebastiano — and to be found in the National Gallery in London today. As Sebastiano competed with Raphael, Michelangelo’s foremost rival, Michelangelo helped his friend by providing him with designs, part of which experts classified as works by Sebastiano himself. The presentation makes it possible to immediately compare the Venetian painter Sebastiano’s and the Florentine sculptor’s different manners of drawing.

The “Lazarus” sheet already reveals the crucial characteristics of Michelangelo’s style as a draftsman: he relied on “modeling,” which is to say that he was less interested in trying to obtain different material or surface effects as painters do, but rather in the three-dimensional character of what he depicted and the interaction of body and space; he was inventive, particularly concerning expressive poses, built up his bodies from within, basing them on their anatomy, and preferred to structure his compositions in “layers” by beginning with very light strokes and developing his motif with increasingly stronger accentuations. He drew briskly and with distinctive verve.

Another chapter presents sheets on which drawings by Michelangelo were imitated by his pupils. Looking at them closely, we can distinguish different “hands” and — which proves particularly fascinating — sometimes reconstruct how a drawing evolved in a “dialogue” between master and pupil. This context also offers an occasion for dealing with the identity of Michelangelo’s pupils who were either his household assistants or young men from well-off families; as far as we know, none of his pupils later made a name for himself with independent works of his own.

After the often quick and sketchy works linked with master pupil relationships, the chapter dedicated to the “Ideal Heads” focuses on the other extreme of Michelangelo’s art of drawing: meticulously executed master drawings which he often produced as personal presents and which were very much sought-after among the collectors and experts of his time. The problem arising here in regard to the sheets’ attribution concerns the question of how to make out the quality of a drawing that has been executed slowly and carefully rather than quickly and in a virtuoso manner. Comparisons with an early copy and with a counterpart that has only survived as a copy reveal the extraordinarily high quality of the “Ideal Head of a Woman” from the British Museum, on which the attribution of this sheet relies.

After the section dedicated to the “Ideal Heads”, the exhibition deals with their opposite, with ugliness, explored by Michelangelo in his “Grotesque Heads” imaginative inventions. Here, the above-mentioned Frankfurt “Grotesque Heads” sheet will be confronted with examples from other collections, and issues concerning its autograph character will be discussed. Already addressed in previous sections, the observation that Michelangelo, depending on the objective of each drawing, worked very differently (quickly, slowly, in a virtuoso manner, carefully, in a slapdash way, etc.) even if his works always reveal the same fundamental characteristics (modeling, working in layers, anatomical interest, developing figures from their inner structure, inventiveness, etc.) will be of great importance in this context.

The holdings of the Städel Museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings comprise two early, quite splendid copies of drawings by Michelangelo, whose originals will be presented in the exhibition as loans from the British Museum: “The Resurrection of Christ” and “The Risen Christ.” Comparing the originals and the copies allows to appreciate not only the drawings’ high quality but also the minor changes as “revisions” by the copyists.

No other Italian Renaissance artist has left as many written documents as Michelangelo. In the exhibition, two letters will give evidence of the graphic quality of the master’s handwriting and document his opinion of the importance of drawing and his status as an artist.

The last section of the exhibition tries to attribute an anonymous sheet, which Johann David Passavant mistakenly purchased as an original by Michelangelo for the Städel Museum in 1850, to the miniaturist Giulio Clovio (1498-1568) by comparing it to two works by the latter artist.

Inviting visitors to have a closer look, the exhibition offers an opportunity to discover subtleties, differences, and particularities in front of the originals and to “read” the traces of an intellectual process that took place almost 500 years ago. Partly providing further illustrations for comparison, explanatory and instructive texts introducing the various chapters will facilitate the viewers’ visual encounters.

The catalogue contains a summary of the history of research into Michelangelo’s drawings and explains which arguments and clues may be useful for the attribution of drawings besides style and quality. These leads include the exact identification of techniques, the sheets’ provenance, watermarks, the subjects dealt with, inscriptions, etc. The catalogue unfolds the arguments for and against the autograph character of the exhibited works as comprehensively as possible.

Curator of the exhibition is Dr. Martin Sonnabend.

Catalogue: Michelangelo. Drawings and Attributions, author Dr. Martin Sonnabend, with a foreword by Max Hollein, 173 p., with illustrations, Städel Museum Frankfurt am Main, Michael Imhof Verlag, 2009, 29,90 Euro, ISBN 978-3-86568-272-7.

Copy after Michelangelo, Ideal head of a woman, ca. 1550-80.