The Triumph of the Body – Michelangelo and Sixteenth-century Italian Draughtsmanship
Ground Floor - 6 April 2019 - 30 June 2019
Michelangelo was ‘an exemplar sent by God to
the men of our arts’. Thus wrote his contemporary and friend, Giorgio
Vasari, who promulgated the idea of Michelangelo as a ‘divine’ artist,
an epithet that has endured ever since. The legend of Michelangelo as
heroic genius, constantly blazing new trails and achieving superhuman
feats, was born through Vasari’s quill. While the reality about the
artist behind the myth grows ever clearer, Vasari’s words still resound
with the ring of truth, for through his exceptionally long career,
Michelangelo exerted an influence on generations of artists.
Sixteenth-century Italian artists
were interested above all in depicting the human body, and
Michelangelo’s nudes, captured in a variety of poses, were the models to
follow for centuries. His legendary creations that form the basis of
his fame, such as the Pietà in St Peter’s Basilica, the marble David, or the Last Judgment and the ceiling paintings in the Sistine Chapel, can only be studied in situ in
Italy, so it is through Michelangelo’s preparatory drawings for these
masterpieces that the wider art-loving public can build a picture of his
unparalleled genius. 30 drawings by Michelangelo and 50 additional
masterworks by his most eminent contemporaries are now being displayed
together. Besides demonstrating the master’s virtuosity as a
draughtsman, the carefully selected drawings also reveal the diverse
ways in which Michelangelo’s innovations in the field of depicting the
nude body were incorporated by his fellow artists into their own works.
Instead of showing the artworks in strict chronological order, we have
arranged them in a more liberal way, often following associations
inspired by visual parallels. The result is an exhibition that poses
questions without attempting to entirely answer them, while letting
visitors enjoy their own discoveries.
mfb.hu
