Michelangelo Buonarroti, Crucifixion

Oil on bronze
25x18 cm. Framed
The prototype of this work is by Michelangelo Buonarroti who made it in 1540 for Vittoria Colonna, now lost and known thanks to the drawing in the British Museum in London. Buonarroti's drawing soon became the prototype for numerous variants by his pupil Marcello Venusti and his workshop, the best known today in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery in Rome, the Casa Buonarroti museum in Florence and at the Jesuit college of Campion Hall in University of Oxford . In addition to this version, at least nine other paintings, on copper or on panel, are currently known.
The present painting, of fine execution, shows three significant differences from all other known versions: the view of Rome in the background, the closed right hand and a titulus crucis bearing the acronym "E.N.J.". Particularly interesting and rare is the support of the work: a thick bronze plate used to accentuate the luminosity and durability, which could suggest an important noble commission.

The prototype of this work is by Michelangelo Buonarroti who made it in 1540 for Vittoria Colonna, now lost and known thanks to the drawing in the British Museum in London. Buonarroti's drawing soon became the prototype for numerous variants by his pupil Marcello Venusti and his workshop, the best known today in the Doria Pamphilj Gallery in Rome, the Casa Buonarroti museum in Florence and at the Jesuit college of Campion Hall in University of Oxford . In addition to this version, at least nine other paintings, on copper or on panel, are currently known.The present painting, of fine execution, shows three significant differences from all other known versions: the view of Rome in the background, the closed right hand and a titulus crucis bearing the acronym "E.N.J.". Particularly interesting and rare is the support of the work: a thick bronze plate used to accentuate the luminosity and durability, which could suggest an important noble commission.