Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Michelangelo, That You?

July 3, 2009 by Marion Maneker

The Daily Mail reports that the Vatican restorers have discovered a self-portrait of the Renaissance master, Michelangelo among the figures in the Pope’s private rooms in the Sistine Chapel. The restoration work was painstaking with 20 persons laboring for five years on the project:

MichelangeloBut it was well worth the effort as the discovery that we have made is I believe of extraordinary significance – as far as I am concerned and a panel of Michelangelo experts the figure with the blue turban is a self portrait of Michelangelo Buonarroti.

‘You just have to compare the face of the man in the background, with the turban to other contemporary images of Michelangelo from the time to see the striking resemblance. Initially art experts always thought the man dressed in brown with a cap on his head, who resembles an executioner is Michelangelo. But myself and the international commission involved in the restoration are convinced it is the turbaned figure.’

Mr De Luca, who has 42 years experience, added: ‘If you compare that figure with Daniele da Volterra’s image of Michelangelo or Giambologna’s bust the similarity is striking and really jumps out. Put a mirror to da Volterra’s work or draw a turban on the head of Giambologna’s bust and you get he same figure that is in The Crucifixion of St Peter.’

Michelangelo began work on the pair of frescoes in the Cappella Paolina within weeks of finishing his masterpiece, The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel.

Restorers Spot lost Self-Portrait of Renaissance Master Michelangelo in Vatican Restoration (Daily Mail)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Warhol Authentication Board Gets ToughWarhol Authentication Board Gets Tough
  • Is This a Good Time for a €100 Million Art Fund?Is This a Good Time for a €100 Million Art Fund?
  • Cleveland Maps Out AcquisitionsCleveland Maps Out Acquisitions
  • Christie’s Contemporary Art Growth May Be Leveling OffChristie’s Contemporary Art Growth May Be Leveling Off
  • Edinburgh ArtEdinburgh Art
  • Who Pays for Saatchi's Gift?Who Pays for Saatchi's Gift?

Filed Under: General

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • $10 M. Picasso Portrait Unseen for Decades to Sell at Bonhams
  • Sotheby's Pulls in a $9m David Hockney for November
  • Lost Lempicka Discovered at Sotheby's
  • David Bowie Talks About Art (with Julian Schnabel)
  • Re-discovered John Constable Painting at Sotheby's in December
  • Vienna Secession Painting, Long Thought to Be Lost, Sets a Record at Auction
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor