Michelangelo Coming to New York!

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Archers Shooting at a Herm, ca. 1530, red chalk on paper, 21.9 cm x 32.3 cm, Royal Collection, UK

Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announce that it would present a historic exhibition on the work of Michelangelo Buonarroti, a titan of the Renaissance and of all of Western Art.  Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer is scheduled to open on November 13, 2017 and run through February 12, 2018.  This unprecedented blockbuster exhibition will no doubt bring art pilgrims from across state lines, if not international as well.  About 150 drawings, three marble sculptures, The Torment of Saint Anthony (Michelangelo's first known painting dating to the time when he was twelve or thirteen), and one of his wood architectural models for a chapel vault; will all give viewers an insight into the creative process of this Renaissance genius. 

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Young Archer, ca. 1490, marble, H. 37, W. 13 1/4, D. 14 inches, lent by the French State, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY 

Michelangelo's work holds a power and grandiosity that has captured the attention of people through the ages.  Many artists have used his imagery as inspiration and as a starting point for their own work.  Now in the twenty first century New York and it's visitors will understand why his contemporaries called him Il Divino (The Divine One). 

Michelangelo Buonarroti, Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto), 1510-11, red and white chalk on paper, 11 3/8 x 8 7/16 inches

For this exhibition work has been pulled from fifty four public and private collections from the US and Europe.  One of the drawings that I anticipate will be on display is this study sheet of the Libyan Sibyl, an image that captured my admiration for Michelangelo, one that I obsessed over since the age of sixteen when I first came across it in an art book in my high school library.  This was the moment I realized that man can achieve greatness beyond the rational, that talent and vision will always live beyond time, and that artists are touched with a gift that can elevate art to the realm of the divine.