Famous Paintings by Michelangelo
Think "Michelangelo" and "famous artwork", and one likely envisions his Sistine Chapel ceiling and statues, like the Vatican's Pieta and David in Florence.
Comparatively unknown, though, are four famous paintings by Michelangelo:
Anthony Purchased in 2009 by the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, The Torment of St.
Anthony has the distinct honor of being the sole Michelangelo painting in an American collection, and of being one of the most famous paintings in any U.
S.
art museum.
Asconio Condivi, Michelangelo's student and subsequent biographer, recounts that Michelangleo was inspired by an etching, Martin Schongauer's The Temptation of Saint Anthony, in Domenico Ghirlandaio's workshop.
Curious to experiment with painting, Michelangelo visited a market to examine fish scales, details absent in The Temptationengraving.
Condivi reports that Ghirlandaio was stunned at the brilliance of this Michelangelo painting - an appropriate reaction, given that Michelangelo was 12 or 13 when he painted The Temptation! The Madonna and Child with St.
John and Angels (The Manchester Madonna) Started roughly a decade later, this unfinished Michelangelo painting shows Christ pointing to a passage in a book held by the Virgin Mary while a pair of angels studies the scroll.
The contents of the book and scroll, an attribute of St.
John, likely foretell Christ's future life and sacrifice.
On the left are a pair of unfinished angels blocked in with the green paint typically used to create flesh tones.
Holy Family (Doni Tondo) This circular painting, ortondo, was fashionable in Renaissance paintings of Florence.
Doni Tondo was believed to have been painted to celebrate the marriage of Agnolo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi.
In this famous artwork, it's not clear whether the Virgin is taking the Infant from St.
Joseph, or instead handing Jesus to him.
Behind the wall is a young St.
John, who will ultimately announce the coming of Christ.
While the meaning of Doni Tondo isn't certain, the presence of St.
John alludes to Christ's birth and baptism.
Entombment Michelangelo portrays here a lifeless Christ being carried to his tomb.
Art historians disagree over the identities of those carrying the dead Son of God toward his tomb.
Saint John the Evangelist is usually shown in red with long hair, and may be the figure on the left carrying Christ.
The others may be Nicodemus, Saint Joseph of Arimathaea, who gave up his tomb for Jesus, and Mary Magdalene, the kneeling figure to the left.
It is believed this Michelangelo painting was for the tomb he was designing for his patron, Pope Julius II; neither was ever completed.
While some art historians question if this is indeed a Michelangelo work, a preparatory sketch in the Louvre has a figure resembling the kneeling woman on the left, suggesting this is a Michelangelo work.
As the National Gallery observes in its art analysis of Entombment, one easily forgets how closely related the visual arts were in the Renaissance -- painting, sculpture, and architecture were intertwined in Renaissance artwork, and their influences are apparent in these famous paintings by Michelangelo, indisputably one of the most brilliant artists in art history.
Comparatively unknown, though, are four famous paintings by Michelangelo:
- The Torment of Saint Anthony
- The Manchester Madonna
- Holy Family (Doni Tondo)
- Entombment
Anthony Purchased in 2009 by the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, The Torment of St.
Anthony has the distinct honor of being the sole Michelangelo painting in an American collection, and of being one of the most famous paintings in any U.
S.
art museum.
Asconio Condivi, Michelangelo's student and subsequent biographer, recounts that Michelangleo was inspired by an etching, Martin Schongauer's The Temptation of Saint Anthony, in Domenico Ghirlandaio's workshop.
Curious to experiment with painting, Michelangelo visited a market to examine fish scales, details absent in The Temptationengraving.
Condivi reports that Ghirlandaio was stunned at the brilliance of this Michelangelo painting - an appropriate reaction, given that Michelangelo was 12 or 13 when he painted The Temptation! The Madonna and Child with St.
John and Angels (The Manchester Madonna) Started roughly a decade later, this unfinished Michelangelo painting shows Christ pointing to a passage in a book held by the Virgin Mary while a pair of angels studies the scroll.
The contents of the book and scroll, an attribute of St.
John, likely foretell Christ's future life and sacrifice.
On the left are a pair of unfinished angels blocked in with the green paint typically used to create flesh tones.
Holy Family (Doni Tondo) This circular painting, ortondo, was fashionable in Renaissance paintings of Florence.
Doni Tondo was believed to have been painted to celebrate the marriage of Agnolo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi.
In this famous artwork, it's not clear whether the Virgin is taking the Infant from St.
Joseph, or instead handing Jesus to him.
Behind the wall is a young St.
John, who will ultimately announce the coming of Christ.
While the meaning of Doni Tondo isn't certain, the presence of St.
John alludes to Christ's birth and baptism.
Entombment Michelangelo portrays here a lifeless Christ being carried to his tomb.
Art historians disagree over the identities of those carrying the dead Son of God toward his tomb.
Saint John the Evangelist is usually shown in red with long hair, and may be the figure on the left carrying Christ.
The others may be Nicodemus, Saint Joseph of Arimathaea, who gave up his tomb for Jesus, and Mary Magdalene, the kneeling figure to the left.
It is believed this Michelangelo painting was for the tomb he was designing for his patron, Pope Julius II; neither was ever completed.
While some art historians question if this is indeed a Michelangelo work, a preparatory sketch in the Louvre has a figure resembling the kneeling woman on the left, suggesting this is a Michelangelo work.
As the National Gallery observes in its art analysis of Entombment, one easily forgets how closely related the visual arts were in the Renaissance -- painting, sculpture, and architecture were intertwined in Renaissance artwork, and their influences are apparent in these famous paintings by Michelangelo, indisputably one of the most brilliant artists in art history.
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