L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2014 www.italoamericano.com L'Italo-Americano 3 Michelangelo Buonarroti: 450 years after his death an exhibition celebrates his genius his grave at the Basilica di Santa Croce. For the 450th anniversary of his death, an extraordinary exhi- bition will celebrate his work in Rome at the Musei Capitolini (Capitoline Museums), located in Piazza del Campidoglio, the very same square Michelangelo designed and that made him famous around the world. "Michelangelo. Incontrare un artista universale" features 150 pieces, 70 of which are signed by the Tuscan-born artist. They have been sent from many Italian and foreign cultural insti- tutions, among these the Buonarroti house, the Uffizi in Florence, the Accademia in Venice, the Vatican Museums, the Biblioteca Reale in Turin and the London British Museum. Of course some of his main masterpieces will be missing because of the obvious impossi- bility of transporting them, above all the Sistine Chapel frescos. But for the first time many of his pieces will be shown one next to the other allowing the viewer to have a full experience of Michelangelo's work and to compare his pieces at a glance. From painting to sculpture, to poetry and architecture, the four genres adopted by Michelangelo will be displayed in nine sec- tions focusing on the themes of his art: a series of thematic "opposites" used to highlight the difficulties experienced by Michelangelo "the man" and Michelangelo "the artist" while inventing and creating his art- works. Concepts such as ancient and modern, life and death, vic- tory and imprisonment, rules and freedom, earthly and spiri- tual love, will be ideally con- nected in one sole itinerary in which Michelangelo's art will be analyzed by comparing drawings, paintings, sculpture and architectural models, as well as select letters and poetry. As visitors step into the museum, the first piece to greet them is actually also of Michelangelo's first works, the Madonna della Scala, which the Master completed when he was just 15 years old while attending the Garden of San Marco, the academy of arts patronized by Lorenzo the Magnificent, at the time ruler of the city of Florence. In the bas-relief, 60 centimeters high and 40 wide, the artist represented a beauti- ful, delicate, ethereal but at the same time powerful Madonna: wrapped in a long veil covering her head, she holds Jesus and is sitting at the bottom of a stair- way. In this piece is reflected the passion Michelangelo had Continued from page 1 The last of Sandro Botticelli's original drawings still in the hands of a private owner will be auctioned in London for the first time after a century on July 9, 2014. The "Study for a seated St. Joseph" realized by the cele- brated Italian artist, author of other masterpieces such as "The Birth of Venus" and "Primavera", was part of Barbara Piasecka Johnson's art collection. The late wife of Mr. "Johnson and Johnson", co- founder of the famous medical and pharmaceutical company, was an expert collector and philanthropist who established a Foundation committed to supporting humanitarian causes worldwide. Botticelli's drawing will be put up for auction at Sotheby's starting from 1,8 million euro, along with two Florentine Renaissance draperies from the important workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio and the power- ful painting "The Sacrifice of Isaac" by Caravaggio's talent- ed follower Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, for an estimated total value of 10 million. They will be presented in the "Old Master and British Paintings" auction, and the proceeds will benefit the above-mentioned Barbara Johnson Foundation to help children affected by autism. The director of Sotheby's Old Master Drawings depart- ment, Cristiana Romalli, underlined that: "Almost all of the key drawings from the Italian Renaissance are by now in public collections, so it is extraordinary to be able to pre- sent three extremely important sheets of this type in one single sale". In fact, besides an album of illustrations for Dante's "Divine Comedy", there are only 12 surviving drawings by the Italian painter, and all but this one are housed in muse- ums or institutions. Dating from the late 15th, the "Study for a seated St. Joseph" was realized on a sheet of beige-pink washed paper using pen and brown ink heightened with white over black chalk, and it portrays the Saint with his head resting on his right hand. The rare art piece can be clearly recognized as a preparatory drawing for a nativity, most likely the mas- terwork "The Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist", and it contributes to increase the knowledge of Botticelli's pictorial technique. sIlVIA sIMoNettI Sotheby's hammer to fall on rare Botticelli's drawing for Donatello's work and at the same time the passing over and breaking into a new and person- al view of art. But aside from the master- pieces, the exhibition focuses also on Michelangelo's creative process through a large number of outstanding sketches and preparatory drawings that show how the first spark of an idea was conceived, developed and eventually brought to life in a sculpture or painting. Among the most interesting studies is the Study for Leda's head, con- sidered one of the most beauti- ful paintings ever realized, and the wooden model San Lorenzo in Florence, which was never actually sculpted. In addition to all this, the exhibition satisfies curious visi- tors by revealing anecdotes about Michelangelo's life and stories about how his master- pieces were born. For example, for the preparatory studies for the lost work "Leda with the swan", Michelangelo used a model, Antonio Mini, one of his apprentices, following the cus- tom of the time of using male models to realize female por- traits. The exhibition will run from May 27th until September 14th. It might be a good excuse for a summer trip to Italy! Study for a seated St Joseph dates back to the 1480s Michelangelo Exhibition at the Musei Capitolini on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the death of Michelangelo Buonarroti

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