Met Museum: Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman & Designer

The current exhibit at the Met Museum, Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman & Designer, is a huge undertaking that extends through several galleries on the museum's second floor that together comprise a stunning tribute to the genius of one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance.  The emphasis throughout is not on finished works but rather on the preparatory drawings and designs that lay behind them.

The first gallery deals with the accomplishments of the young Michelangelo who began his career in Florence as an apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio who was himself a highly competent draftsman.  It was, in fact, from Ghirlandaio that Michelangelo learned the technique of cross hatching that allowed him to produce in his drawings subtle tonal variations.  Also included in this gallery are works by Francesco Granacci, the artist's fellow pupil at Ghirlandaio's studio.  But by far the most interesting work in the gallery is one of Michelangelo's earliest paintings, The Torment of St. Anthony, hung directly beside the engraving by Martin Schongauer that served as its source.  Though Michelangelo considered sculpture a much higher form of art than painting, his ability with a brush was unsurpassed.

The second gallery contains a single Michelangelo sculpture, an armless Cupid, surrounded by examples of Italian and Classical sculpture that had inspired the artist.  In fact, so well versed was Michelangelo in the techniques of antiquity that he once passed off one of his own works as a newly discovered Classical sculpture.  His skill was such that no one suspected it was a counterfeit.

The gallery that unsurprisingly is of most interest to visitors is that devoted to the painting of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling.  A huge overhead transparency of the finished work has been placed on the gallery's own ceiling and there is even a reproduction of the scaffolding on which Michelangelo lay while painting it (though it's unlike the original scaffolding was as smooth and polished as that shown at the museum).  Underneath, are a selection of preparatory drawings, such as that for the Libyan Sibyl.  It is really only after having viewed these studies that one can truly appreciate the full extent of Michelangelo's achievement.

The ceiling was not the only artwork by Michelangelo to adorn the Sistine Chapel.  In 1534 he returned to paint the fresco of The Last Judgment on the wall behind the altar.  Not only are there prepatory studies at this exhibit but also a copy of the original work before it was defaced by religious conservatives who objected to the nudity that had been depicted within it.

Though the term "Renaissance man" has become hackneyed through overuse, there is good reason to apply it to Michelangelo.  As was the case with his fellow Florentine Leonardo, the artist's interests extended far beyond painting and sculpture.  Among his many architectural accomplishments was the design of the tomb of Pope Julius II and that of the Medici funerary chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo.  The capstone of Michelangelo's architectural career, however, was his commission to design St. Peter's Basilica, together with its great curved dome, that still stands today at the center of Vatican City.

For many, Michelangelo is known only as the sculptor of David and of the Pieta.  The achievement of the Met exhibit is to demonstrate that, great as these two works are, there is much more to Michelangelo's artistry.  One cannot but come away with a deepened appreciation of his genius in many different genres.  This is without question the most important show of the year in New York City.

The exhibit continues through February 12, 2018.