The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
May 13, 2009
The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth has acquired what some scholars now say is the first known painting made by Michelangelo. And if he created it, he did so when he was only 12 or 13.
This latest research holds that Michelangelo painted “The Torment of St. Anthony” between 1487 and 1488. That would make it one of only four known easel paintings by Michelangelo — another is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and two unfinished ones are in the National Gallery of Art in London — and the first to enter an American museum.
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
A detail of “The Torment of St. Anthony,” which many scholars now think was painted by Michelangelo at 12 or 13.
The painting’s attribution has been the subject of ferocious debate among scholars for four and a half centuries. While experts, citing historical records, agreed that Michelangelo had made a painting of the saint, the question was, Is it this work?
But “The Torment of St. Anthony” — an oil and tempera on a wood panel, depicting the saint poised in midair and beaten by demons — has recently undergone conservation and technical research at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Keith Christiansen, a curator of European painting there, said he firmly believed that it was by the hand of the master.
But he acknowledges that others will disagree. “A lot of people still won’t accept it as Michelangelo,” Mr. Christiansen said.
Eric McCauley Lee, director of the Kimbell, said in a telephone interview: “It sounded ridiculous at first. But when I went to the Met and saw the painting, I was struck by its power as a work of art. It had been obscured by dirt and overpainting. And when you hear Keith Christiansen’s argument, you realize it’s enormously important.”
But as recently as July, some scholars had doubts. When it was offered at a Sotheby’s auction in London, it was cataloged only as “Workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio,” where the young Michelangelo had been a pupil.
“It’s quite a famous picture, and we knew Michelangelo had painted this composition, but we just didn’t have enough evidence at the time,” said Alexander Bell, head of Sotheby’s old master paintings department in London.
Michael Hirst, a leading Michelangelo scholar in London, said last year that he did not believe the work was by the artist. (Mr. Hirst was traveling and could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.) And when it was included in an exhibition of the young Michelangelo in Florence in 1999, it was also attributed to Ghirlandaio’s workshop.
Adam Williams, a New York dealer, saw the painting and said he was convinced it was a Michelangelo. So convinced that he bought it at the Sotheby’s auction for about $2 million. The painting did not get an export license until September, and when it arrived in New York, Mr. Williams took it straight to the Metropolitan to be examined.
“I had never seen it before,” Mr. Christiansen said. “I looked at it and said this is self-evidently Michelangelo. There’s a section of the rocks with cross-hatching. Nobody else did this kind of emphatic cross-hatching.”
Michael Gallagher, conservator of paintings at the Metropolitan, cleaned and studied the painting.
“It was incredibly dirty,” he said. “But once the centuries of varnish were removed, its true quality was evident.”
"The Torment of Saint Anthony."
Photo: Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
Claire M. Barry, the Kimbell’s chief curator, heard about the work and came to the Met to see it. She then contacted Mr. Lee, who also inspected it and persuaded his board to buy it. Although no one will disclose the price, experts in the field say they believe the figure was more than $6 million.
For centuries, art historians have known that Michelangelo copied an engraving of St. Anthony by the 15th-century German master Martin Schongauer for a painting. Michelangelo’s biographer and former student, Ascanio Condivi, said the young Michelangelo told him that while he was working on the painting, he had visited a local market to learn how to depict fish scales, a feature not found in the engraving.
A painting of St. Anthony is also mentioned in Giorgio Vasari’s chronicle of Michelangelo’s life, although Vasari at first ascribed the original engraving to Dürer. But after Michelangelo complained, Vasari changed his account, naming Schongauer.
Measuring 18 ½ inches by 13 1/4 inches, “The Torment of St. Anthony” is at least one-third larger than the engraving. It is also not an exact copy; Michelangelo took liberties. In addition to adding the fish scales, he depicted St. Anthony holding his head more erect and with an expression more detached than sad.
He also added a landscape to the bottom of the composition, and created monsters that are more dramatic than those in the engraving.
Mr. Christiansen said studying “The Torment of St. Anthony” with infrared reflectography had exposed layers of pentimenti, or under drawing, revealing what he called the master’s hand at work.
And once the centuries of varnish were removed, the colors suddenly came alive. There is eggplant, lavender, apple green and even a brilliant salmon, which was used to depict the scales of the spiny demons. The palette, Mr. Christiansen said, is a prelude to the colors chosen for the Sistine Chapel’s vault.
Asked why the Metropolitan didn’t try to buy the painting, Mr. Christiansen replied: “The timing wasn’t right. We had other acquisitions on the dock.”
The work will be on view at the Met from June through August. It will then go to the Kimbell, where it will be displayed along with the Schongauer print.
“It is now one of our greatest treasures,” Mr. Lee said. “And will receive pride of place in our collection.”
Multimedia
Slide Show
‘The Torment of St. Anthony’
No comments:
Post a Comment