For years, it was believed that Michelangelo burned all the works he kept in his house shortly before his death on February 18, 1564.
A study has proven that, before his death, Michelangelo, the brilliant Renaissance artist, did not burn his legacy as previously believed, but devised a plan to save sketches and sculptures, entrusting them to friends and disciples.
The work of documentarian Valentina Salerno allowed the identification of at least 20 works.
The discovery was so significant that even the Scientific Committee of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the organization responsible for the administration of St. Peter’s Basilica, is examining “the hypothesis of this investigation,” Vatican sources confirmed on Friday to the Efe agency.
“This was his last masterpiece, a brilliant plan he devised in the years leading up to his death, as he was already very vintage, at 89 years old. He knew his time was near and dedicated his last years to it. The works (that he kept in his house) were all destined for a nephew he disliked. So, to ensure that his students received his drawings, his study material, and the continuity of his art, he organized this grand and brilliant secret plan to distribute his assets,” Salerno explained in an interview with Efe.
For years, it was believed that the “Divine Master,” shortly before his death on February 18, 1564, burned all the works he kept in his house on Via Macel de’ Corvi, in present-day Piazza Venezia, in Rome.
But Salerno’s study, which consulted Italian and foreign archives for more than ten years, including those of the State and the Vatican, using a technique employed in criminology, proves that he delivered them to a group of people very close to him.
After his death, “all of Michelangelo’s financial treasure was found, but not his works of art. In short, his creations, as he called them, his children. And that’s where I started (…) Because there are numerous accounts of visits, even letters from his own disciples, of people who frequented the house, describing Michelangelo’s residence as a kind of hall of wonders.”
The study, titled “Michelangelo in his Last Days,” with the support of the Regular Canons of the Lateran and writer Michele Rak, reports the incredible discovery of a secret cubicle in the artist’s house, where he supposedly hid these pieces to protect them from predatory hands.
he would have summoned his most faithful disciples and members of his brotherhood.
After his death, notary Francesco Tomassino found only three statues and some sketches, as the rest had already been distributed.
The researcher is following at least twenty previously unknown or unattributed works, whose authenticity is being tested.
For example, the sketch of the foot of the Libyan Sibyl, which was sold in London for more than $27 million and attributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti after six months of investigation by Christie’s, is one of those included in the study that will be revealed gradually.
The Vatican Committee will also continue to work on the project, composed of experts from important museums, such as William Wallace, art historian at the University of Washington in St. Louis, Hugo Chapman, curator of the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, Cristina Acidini, of the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, Alessandro Checchi, director of the Buonarroti Foundation, and Pietro Zander, historian of St. Peter’s Basilica, reported the newspaper “Il Messaggero” on Friday.
Salerno explained that this essay rewrites the biography of Michelangelo, “a brilliant man, even in terms of strategy and personal relationships.”
“He was a man who responded to challenges even to popes and powerful people. An absolutely extraordinary man,” she emphasized.
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