Lot n° 269
Estimation :
30000 - 50000
EUR
Florentine school of the late sixteenth century after Michel - Lot 269
Florentine school of the late sixteenth century after Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
Cristo Vivo
Bronze with brown patina. Joint: a later cross, in walnut. Christ: Height 33 cm and total height 64 cm
Work of reference :
-Michelangelo Buonarroti, Christ on the Cross surrounded by two lamenting angels, 1538-1541, drawing on paper (Height 36.8 - Width 26.8 cm), London, British Museum, inv. no. 1895,0915.504.
Related literature:
-Hugo Chapman, Michelangelo Drawings: closer to the master, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2005, no. 91, pp. 254-7.
- Ss dir. Pina Ragionieri, Vittoria Colonna e Michelangelo, catalog of the exhibition held at Casa Buonarroti, Florence, 2005, no. 49, pp. 165-6.
-Ss dir. Victoria Avery, Michelangelo, sculptor in bronze. The Rotschilds bronze, University of Cambridge-The Fitzwilliam Museum, PWP Cambridge, 2018.
-Michael Riddick, The thief of Michelangelo, models preserved in bronze and terracotta, 2020, Renbronze.com.
- Michael Riddick, Michelangelo's Crucifix for Vittoria Colonna, 2021, Renbronze.com.
-Ss dir. Denise Allen et alii, Italian Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022, notice 101, pp. 287-294.
Christ is depicted here at the moment of his sacrifice, his eyes turned toward heaven, his mouth half-open, still alive and already victorious. The serpentine composition of the sturdy body reinforces the calm dynamism and power of the Christ-like figure. This representation of the glorious Christ is directly inspired by Michelangelo's remarkable drawing from the years 1538-1541, which is kept in the British Museum in London. This drawing is generally identified as the presentation drawing of a Crucifixion scene made for his confidante Vittoria Colonna (1490-1547), with whom he shared an intense spiritual correspondence. As evidenced by the many surviving drawings and studies, Michelangelo's interest in depicting this fundamental scene of Christian iconography continued throughout his career, especially in the 1530s/1540s and in the last years of his life.
The British Museum drawing quickly became an iconic image of Counter-Reformation devotion and propaganda. It was widely disseminated through engraving (Giulio Bonasone, c. 1498-c. 1574), but also through drawn (Giulio Clovio, 1498-1578) or painted copies, such as the one by Marcello Venusti (1512/1515 - 1579) in the Doria Pamphili Gallery in Rome.
The book Michelangelo, sculptor in Bronze, recently published by Victoria Avery, has highlighted Michelangelo's activity as "the most significant and successful maker of bronze sculpture in Italia". In addition to these large official commissions in marble, he also, less frequently but regularly, made models for commissions of small works in metal. The scholar suggests that these requests were made by clients who wanted Michelangelo's work, while recognizing the constraints of his valuable time. He would have created models while subcontracting the casting and finishing to specialized founders.
Our crucifix would be the first bronze attached to Michelangelo's design to be identified. However, another bronze example that appears to be similar was sold at auction on October 19, 2020 by Rennes Enchères, lot 45, and was listed as Anonymous of the 18th century.
Four crucifixes by Michelangelo are known and documented: the most famous, made in wood in 1492 for the church of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito in Florence; another mentioned in 1562 in a correspondence with his nephew Lionardo; a small, unfinished wooden crucifix preserved in the Casa Buonarroti; and finally, the one cited by Giorgio Vasari as a gift from the artist to his friend Menighella. A fifth bronze crucifix, the genesis of which is not unanimously shared, may have been given as a gift to Vittoria Colonna. It is linked to two drawings now considered preparatory to a sculpted work (Character Studies for a Crucifixion, c. 1530-45, Teylers Museum, Haarlem). They date from the same decade as the drawing that served as the model for our Christ.
The identification of our crucifix allows us to look again at the Crucifixion drawing in the British Museum. While this drawing is generally considered by critics to be preparatory to a painting, it is more likely to be preparatory to a sculpture. Michelangelo is clearly concerned with rendering the robust and triumphant body of Christ in its three dimensions. The cross is barely evoked, the figure emerges from the sheet and the anatomy is treated in large masses, with the play of light and shadow. The power of the modeling and the t
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue