Carlo Franza

The Fondazione Biblioteca in Senato Street in Milan, presided over by Marcello Dell'Utri, has arranged the exhibition “Michelangelo - Graph and biography of a genius”, open till June 18th.

A very interesting exhibition investigating the long life of Michelangelo throughout the examination of his graph. 

All this has been possible thanks to the impressive historical attention paid by some descendants of the Italian artist, that collected and kept works and documents related to him in the Florentine family residence.

The whole exhibition is constructed round two ideal and fundamental phases of Michelangelo's life, that is the Florentine period of maturity and the following one featured by the final move to Rome, in 1534, when he would become the architect of the works of St. Peter and where, after the death of Pope Medici, he carried out for the new Pope Paul III Farnese the work of his plenty maturity, that is the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel.

The first period, we will refer to as the “Florentine” period, and that coincided with several trips to Rome, but also to Carrara and Pietrasanta in search of marbles, is documented by witnesses as letters and drawings referring to two great undertakings, of huge extent, that are the Grave of Jules II and the works of St. Lorenz in Florence, and later the project, never carried out, for the façade of the basilica, the exemplary realizations of the New Sacristy (1519) and the Laurentian Library (1524). 

Strong signs of that wide Cinquecento architectural experience. But also for the Grave of Jules II things did not go on well, since the Pope at matter (Pope from 1503 to 1513) at the beginning wanted the grave were placed in St. Peter; Michelangelo worked at it more than forty years without ever completing it, then Jules II, caught by the more exciting undertaking of the New St. Peter, on January 1506, took him away the commission causing this way the escape of the artist from Rome.

Not less interesting are Michelangelo's poems and sonnets, another form of art, rather used by him. Sonnets going from invective up to the courteous poetry Petrarca kind. 

Of special interest wee find on exhibition one of the highest masterpieces of the Michelangelo's graphic production, that is showed for the first time to the Italian and European public, that is the drawing representing “Cleopatra”, and that was given as a present to Tommaso dei Cavalieri at the middle of the thirty in the sixteen century. 

It belongs to those drawings called “presentation drawings”, that are sheets with profane subjects and often hard to interpret, done for no projecting or study purposes, but declaredly, to make presents. 

A work for Tommaso dei Cavalieri and featured by a rather complex story. In 1562, when Michelangelo was still alive, Tommaso dei Cavalieri was compelled to present the drawing to Duke Cosimo I de' Medici and he enclosed to the gift a letter where he asserted that “depriving of that work caused him no less pain than the loss of a son” and therefore, near to lose it, he ordered a maestro, friend of his, a copy to be made.

In august 1988 a restoration work of this sheet let finding on the back another autograph drawing: another more instinctive Cleopatra, expressing vivid anxiety.

These Michelangelo original sheets, placed among drawings and writings, the latter very personal even as regards to the language by those times, are sided by a selection of paintings, miniatures, medals, engravings, volumes and stamps, inclusive some beautiful cinquecentine (books edited in the XVI century), fifteen in all, imprinted by the major editors of the Cinquecento, as Aldo Manunzio, the Giunti and Torrentino.

Well then, you will note among signs and writings an unusual Michelangelo, new, a literate Michelangelo that tries graph essays with quill and ink, to write notes, sketches and ideas. 

A genius' ideas.