British Museum works to restore ‘rare and complex’ Michelangelo drawing — 16th-century work Epifania is one of only two existing cartoons by the Italian master
British Museum works to restore ‘rare and complex’ Michelangelo drawing — 16th-century work Epifania is one of only two existing cartoons by the Italian master
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Excerpt:
>One of only two surviving Michelangelo cartoons is undergoing delicate and highly technical conservation work at the British Museum in an attempt to stabilise the fragile work for the coming decades.
>Epifania, created by the Italian master artist around 1550, has degraded and been subject to repeated repairs over its almost 500-year history.
>Now it is laid out in the museum’s state-of-the-art conservation studios as specialists consider how best to preserve the complex structure and black chalk lines.
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>The cartoon – a preparatory same-scale drawing for a finished work – was made for Ascanio Condivi, who was regarded as an undistinguished artist but made his name as Michelangelo’s biographer.
>Twenty-six sheets of paper, made from cotton, hemp and flax, were overlapped and glued together with flour paste to create a 2.32 metre by 1.65 metre expanse for Michelangelo to work on. The resulting sheet was probably placed upright, with the artist working with chalk inserted into a length of reed.
>The cartoon was in Michelangelo’s studio at the time of his death. It remained in Italy until the late 18th century, and then travelled to England, the Netherlands and back to England. It was acquired by the British Museum in 1895.
Harriet Sherwood for *The Guardian*, 28 November 2022.
Just keep it safe from environment activists!!
P.s : I am a believer in climate change and the need to rectify global warming.
Not as good as his sixteenth chapel but still decent