A work of art believed to be Michelangelo's first painting, completed when he was just 12 or 13 years old...Update: The full painting is shown below (credit). Hat tip to Mademoiselle Titam for locating the original rendition by 15th-century German engraver Martin Schongauer (bottom).The painting depicts a sour-faced, white haired St Anthony being teased and tugged by monsters. It is based on the Schongauer engraving but differs from it in such ways that many experts now believe prove its provenance.
For instance, among the monsters are fish-like images. A contemporaneous early biographer of the master notes that Michelangelo visited a fishmarket while painting the Torment in order accurately to portray fish scales...
...infrared scans and X-rays revealed the underlying pentimenti - the artist's changes that were made as the work progressed.
The pentimenti convinced Lee and the Kimbell board that the painting could not have been a copy produced by the workshop but had to be the original article.
I've also bloged about this. I find it fascinating and, from what I know (but my knowledge may be scarce regarding that matter), I find the depiction quite close to the flemish 15th century paintings, such as Bruegel's or Bosch, especially the fish-like figures. I was too tired (and maybe lazy) yesterday evening to check in my books, but it defenitely reminds me of specific flemish paintings of that time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me. One of the reasons I blogged it was because it reminded me of Bosch's figures.
ReplyDeleteI'll see what I can find.
Got it. It's a copy of Martin Schongauer's Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons, ca. 1470-75. He was a German engraver and painter. He was the most important German printmaker before Albrecht Dürer.
ReplyDeleteHis prints were circulated widely and Schongauer was known in Italy by the names, Bel Martino and Martino d'Anversa.