Date/Time
Date - December 30, 2017
1:30 pm until 3:30 pm
Location
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY, 10028
Join me for a visit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the exhibition Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman & Designer. Members and guests are invited to have brunch as a group before our visit, details about the dining option will be available closer to the date.
Limit 6 people, RSVP to Laura by Thursday, December 28.
Suggested Admission:
$25 – Adults
$17 – Seniors (65 and over)
Metropolitan Museum of Art Members: Free of charge
From the website: metmuseum.org
MICHELANGELO: DIVINE DRAFTSMAN & DESIGNER
November 13, 2017 – February 12, 2018

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Italian, Caprese 1475–1564 Rome, Studies for the Libyan Sibyl. Drawing ca. 1510–11. Red chalk, with small accents of white chalk on the left shoulder of the figure in the main study (recto). Sheet: 11 3/8 x 8 7/16 in. (28.9 x 21.4 cm). Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1924. 24.197.2. Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), a towering genius in the history of Western art, will be the subject of this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition. During his long life, Michelangelo was celebrated for the excellence of his disegno, the power of drawing and invention that provided the foundation for all the arts. For his mastery of drawing, design, sculpture, painting, and architecture, he was called Il Divino (“the divine one”) by his contemporaries. His powerful imagery and dazzling technical virtuosity transported viewers and imbued all of his works with a staggering force that continues to enthrall us today.

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Italian, Caprese 1475–1564, Rome. Unfinished cartoon for a Madonna and Child, Drawing 1525–30. Black and red chalk, white gouache, brush and brown wash sheet: 21 5/16 x 15 9/16 in. (54.1 x 39.6 cm) Casa Buonarroti, Florence 71F SL.6.2017.12.7.
Image courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This exhibition will present a stunning range and number of works by the artist: 128 of his drawings, three of his marble sculptures, his earliest painting, his wood architectural model for a chapel vault, as well as a substantial body of complementary works by other artists for comparison and context. Among the extraordinary international loans are the complete series of masterpiece drawings he created for his friend Tommaso de’ Cavalieri and a monumental cartoon for his last fresco in the Vatican Palace. Selected from 50 public and private collections in the United States and Europe, the exhibition will examine Michelangelo’s rich legacy as a supreme draftsman and designer.

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Italian, Caprese 1475–1564, Rome. Design for the Tomb of Pope Julius II della Rovere, Drawing, 1505–6. Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over stylus ruling and leadpoint. 20-1/16 x 12-9/16 in. (51 x 31.9 cm) Rogers Fund, 1962 62.93.1. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Here is a video showing the conservation of a Michelangelo drawing on loan from Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford, in preparation for the exhibition Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer. The Met’s paper conservator Marjorie Shelley takes us through the complex and delicate process of restoring this beautiful architectural drawing.
Featured Artwork:
Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475–1564 ).
Designs for a monumental altar or facade, possibly for San Silvestro in Capite, Rome.
Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, black chalk, stylus ruling, and compass construction (recto), black chalk, some ruling in black chalk (verso).
By permission of the Governing Body of Christ Church, Oxford (0992; JBS 64)
Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer is on view at The Met Fifth Avenue from November 13, 2017, through February 12, 2018.
Director: Kate Farrell
Editor: Sarah Cowan
Producer: Melissa Bell
Camera: Wayne de la Roche, Sarah Cowan, Dia Felix
Lighting: Dia Felix
Production Coordinator: Kaelan Burkett
Production Assistants: Bryan Martin, Stephanie Wuertz
Original Music: Austin Fisher
© 2017 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY