"During my summer holidays, I took a Michelangelo on an Easyjet flight. We were in the cheap seats and didn't even do Speedy Boarding. Conservators and registrars may wish to look away, but let me explain. Some months ago I noticed a small crucifix in an online auction in Madrid. Dated around 1600, it was damaged and cheaply estimated. I am quite ignorant about sculpture but something about it shone from the catalogue."
"His original model-likely of wax or clay, or perhaps wood-has not survived. This example was said to be made of lead and was missing most of its polychrome decoration. But I have always been interested in how the attribution of sculpture differs from painting. A copy of a Michelangelo painting, for example, can replicate his original composition or idea but nothing of the personal touch we so value in an "autograph" painting."
A crucifix listed in a Madrid auction, dated around 1600 and damaged, was described as cast from a model originally by Michelangelo brought to Seville in 1599. Numerous portable replicas in bronze and silver were produced and sometimes polychromed by Francisco Pacheco; Velázquez painted a nun holding a similar example. The auction piece was not considered Michelangelo's autograph; the original wax, clay, or wood model has not survived and this lead cast lacked most polychrome. Qualified casts can convey an artist's technique, enabling posthumous bronzes to be regarded as authentic. Michelangelo repeatedly explored the crucifixion subject.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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