Michelangelo’s Epifania, the master’s extraordinary, two-metre-high preparatory drawing, is not only one of the largest Renaissance works on paper, but is his only complete surviving pre-fresco drawing.
Undergoing meticulous conservation since 2018, the gigantic work will finally being unveiled this spring as part of a landmark exhibition opening at the British Museum.
Michelangelo: the last decades, which will open on May 2, will focus on the work the artist made over the last three decades of his career, delving into a significant, but rarely explored, period of the Italian painter’s life.
“When Michelangelo moved to Rome in 1534, he was almost 60 years old,” said Sarah Vowles, the British Museum’s Italian and French prints and drawings curator. “This exhibition follows him through the next three decades, until his death at the age of almost 89, exploring the variety of works he produced – from the Last Judgment to the dome of St Peter’s – and the ways in which he evolved his working practice in later life.”
Displays of Michelangelo nearly often celebrate the work he made at the beginning of his career: the artist made David when he was in his late 20s, for example; he began the Sistine Chapel when he was 33 years old. But as the artist aged, his friendships developed, his faith intensified, and he became more set in his opinions – leading to fascinating developments in his remarkable later works.
Now the British Museum will be shining a light on some of these exquisite, lesser-known, pieces, using them to construct a clearer picture of his full and “demanding” later life.
“[The exhibition] introduces visitors to Michelangelo as a man, bound in a rich network of friendships, and brings his own voice to the fore,” explained Vowles. “Articulate, impassioned, often prickly, but never anything less than compelling.”
In the thrilling new exhibition, Michelangelo’s Epifania, “one of the great treasures of the British Museum collection”, will be displayed alongside the painting that was then made from it by Michelangelo’s biographer, Ascanio Condivi. The exhibition will then look at Michelangelo's impact on iconography and religious art, through works some of which haven’t been seen for a decade, such as preparatory drawings from the Last Judgment.
Some of Michelangelo’s poems, letters, and drawings made specifically for his friends will also be on display, providing further insight into the artist’s inner and private life, as he conversed with colleagues, confidants and family members.
Visitors can also expect to see a series of drawings of the Crucifixion, made by the painter in old age, of a more spiritual mindset, and The Punishment of Tityus (about 1532) – a drawing made for his close friend, the young nobleman Tommaso dei Cavalieri.
