This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/museum-says-men-riding-panthers-probably-last-surviving-michelangelo-bronzes/2015/02/02/facfc416-aaba-11e4-9c91-e9d2f9fde644_story.html?wprss=rss_world
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Museum says men riding panthers probably last surviving Michelangelo bronzes | Museum says men riding panthers probably last surviving Michelangelo bronzes |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| LONDON — Two bronze statues of men atop panthers, whose origin has long been in doubt, are now thought to be the only remaining bronze works of the Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo, a British museum announced Monday. | |
| The statues of the two muscular men saluting from their perch on the big cats were attributed to the 16th-century Italian painter and sculptor based on a small detail from one of Michelangelo’s student’s drawings, Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam Museum said. | The statues of the two muscular men saluting from their perch on the big cats were attributed to the 16th-century Italian painter and sculptor based on a small detail from one of Michelangelo’s student’s drawings, Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam Museum said. |
| It said a professor of art history at Cambridge connected the impressive three-foot-high bronzes to a drawing by one of Michelangelo’s apprentices in a French museum a few months ago. | It said a professor of art history at Cambridge connected the impressive three-foot-high bronzes to a drawing by one of Michelangelo’s apprentices in a French museum a few months ago. |
| “If the attribution is correct, they are the only surviving Michelangelo bronzes in the world,” the museum said. | “If the attribution is correct, they are the only surviving Michelangelo bronzes in the world,” the museum said. |
| The student’s copy of some of Michelangelo’s lost sketches included a forceful sketch of a muscular young man riding a panther, the museum said. It said the sketch was very similar to the bronzes. | The student’s copy of some of Michelangelo’s lost sketches included a forceful sketch of a muscular young man riding a panther, the museum said. It said the sketch was very similar to the bronzes. |
| The sketch was also “drawn in the abrupt, forceful manner that Michelangelo employed in designs for sculpture,” the museum said, according to the news agency Reuters. “This suggests that Michelangelo was working up this very unusual theme for a work in three dimensions.” | The sketch was also “drawn in the abrupt, forceful manner that Michelangelo employed in designs for sculpture,” the museum said, according to the news agency Reuters. “This suggests that Michelangelo was working up this very unusual theme for a work in three dimensions.” |
| The bronzes are now thought to have been done after Michaelangelo’s masterpiece sculpture David but before he painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling. | The bronzes are now thought to have been done after Michaelangelo’s masterpiece sculpture David but before he painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling. |
| “The bronzes are exceptionally powerful and compelling works of art that deserve close-up study — we hope the public will come and examine them for themselves, and engage with this ongoing debate,” Victoria Avery, keeper of the Applied Arts Department of the Fitzwilliam Museum, said in a statement. | “The bronzes are exceptionally powerful and compelling works of art that deserve close-up study — we hope the public will come and examine them for themselves, and engage with this ongoing debate,” Victoria Avery, keeper of the Applied Arts Department of the Fitzwilliam Museum, said in a statement. |
| The museum said the new evidence would be presented to a conference in July. The bronzes are on display at the Cambridge University museum. | The museum said the new evidence would be presented to a conference in July. The bronzes are on display at the Cambridge University museum. |
| The museum said that art historians first attributed the bronzes to Michelangelo in the 19th century. But since they are unsigned and there’s no documentation of them, the attribution never stuck and the bronzes were then attributed to various other Renaissance sculptors. | The museum said that art historians first attributed the bronzes to Michelangelo in the 19th century. But since they are unsigned and there’s no documentation of them, the attribution never stuck and the bronzes were then attributed to various other Renaissance sculptors. |