sculpture of a young John the Baptist, attributed to Michelangelo by Professor Francesco Kaloti

Source: nytimes.com

In Florence held a press conference dedicated to the end of the most complex restoration marble statue of a young John the Baptist Chapel Savior in the Spanish town of Ubeda (Andalusia). Professor Francesco Kaloti (Francesco Caglioti) of the University of Naples Federico II led a number of arguments in favor of what this sculpture is the work of a lost Michelangelo, referred to in the writings of his biographers.

About sculpture "Young John the Baptist "by Michelangelo, also called San Giovannino, it is known that it was made in the years 1495-1496 by order of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de 'Medici. After the expulsion of the Medici family of Florence, the statue of St. John, the official version has been lost. A number of statues at various times critics have tried to identify with the very San Giovannino, but the general acceptance is not achieved by any of them. But this may soon change.

sculpture graced the young John the Baptist Chapel of the Savior in Ubeda since time immemorial. In 1930, the Spanish historian Manuel Gomez Moreno (Manuel Gómez Moreno) first attempted to attribute the work of Michelangelo, but the scientific community did not support it. In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began, the Republicans have ruined the Chapel of the Savior, the statue of St. John has been broken. According to one witness, the head of the statue were playing football, making her still have the dents. 14 surviving fragments of sculpture in 1994 was brought to Florence, conservation institute Opificio delle Pietre Dure (literally translated as master semi-precious stones), where almost 20 years it was restored. Missing parts of the statue (nearly 60%) were made from special lightweight plastic based material, and they were attached to the original fragments magnets in order to remove in the case of addition, if there are missing parts.

The recovered statue of John the professor Kaloti found stylistically close sculpture "Bacchus" by Michelangelo (National Museum of the Bargello, Florence) and a small figure of John in the unfinished film "The Manchester Madonna" (National Gallery, London), attributed to Michelangelo by most scientists.

Kaloti also established how the sculpture could get from Florence to Ubeda. Statue made for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de 'Medici, was subsequently inherited by Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1537, Cosimo made a political alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, as well as his powerful secretary, Francisco de los Cobos and Molina - a native of Andalusia. Florentine archive professor Kaloti Cosimo found a letter from summer 1537, which refers to the "statue", sent to Andalusia as a gift to Francisco de los Cobos. Secretary Charles V died in 1547 and was buried in the Chapel of just the Savior in Ubeda (chapel was it built as a family tomb.) Sculpture of John the Baptist was in the alcove near the burial place of Cobos.

Kaloti arguments have convinced some experts, but stayed and dissenting. For example, the compiler of the catalog raisonné of Michelangelo, Frank Zollner (Frank Zöllner) on the basis of photographs sent to him did not find the statue is stylistically close to the other works of the master. In addition, he was troubled by the fact that in his letter to Cosimo did not name the author sent by the statue, and this despite the fact that the name of Michelangelo at the time resounded throughout Europe. However, the arguments Kaloti Zollner found very interesting.

Prepared by Mary Onuchina, AI

Sources : nytimes.com ,