Like many stories of artistic loss, this one begins in a library in
Italy, where Antonio Forcellino - a distinguished Michelangelo
scholar and restorer - stumbled across some unpublished letters
among the papers of Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga, son of Isabella
d'Este and an extremely important figure in the Italian
Renaissance. These letters comment on the paintings of Michelangelo
in a way that is completely at odds with what was to become the
dominant critical tradition of Michelangelo scholarship, an
inconsistency that set Forcellino off on a journey that took him to
Dubrovnik, Oxford, New York and Niagara Falls and culminated in the
discovery of two magnificent paintings: Pieta with Mary and Two
Angels, now in a private collection in America, and
Cavalieri Crucifixion, now held by an educational
institution in England. Through a combination of careful historical
research, extensive restoration and meticulous radiographic
analysis, Forcellino shows convincingly that these paintings can be
traced back to the studio of Michelangelo.

This extraordinary story, brilliantly retold, calls into question
the received view of Michelangelo's work and fills in a
missing piece in our understanding of one of the greatest artists
of all time.

Auteur
Antonio Forcellino is an art historian and restorer. As a leading scholar of the Renaissance and a recognised expert on Michelangelo, Forecellino was responsible for the restoration of Michelangelo's Moses and the Piccolomini altar in Siena.

Résumé
Translated by Lucinda Byatt This book tells the remarkable story of a rare discovery: the uncovering of two lost paintings by the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo.

Like many stories of artistic loss, this one begins in a library in Italy, where Antonio Forcellino - a distinguished Michelangelo scholar and restorer - stumbled across some unpublished letters among the papers of Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga, son of Isabella d'Este and an extremely important figure in the Italian Renaissance. These letters comment on the paintings of Michelangelo in a way that is completely at odds with what was to become the dominant critical tradition of Michelangelo scholarship, an inconsistency that set Forcellino off on a journey that took him to Dubrovnik, Oxford, New York and Niagara Falls and culminated in the discovery of two magnificent paintings: Pieta with Mary and Two Angels, now in a private collection in America, and Cavalieri Crucifixion, now held by an educational institution in England. Through a combination of careful historical research, extensive restoration and meticulous radiographic analysis, Forcellino shows convincingly that these paintings can be traced back to the studio of Michelangelo.

This extraordinary story, brilliantly retold, calls into question the received view of Michelangelo's work and fills in a missing piece in our understanding of one of the greatest artists of all time.

Contenu
Chapter One - Niagara
Chapter Two - Mantua, 11 June 1546
Chapter Three - Between legends and documents
Chapter Four - A movable panel
Chapter Five - Isabel Archer
Chapter Six - The meeting
Chapter Seven - The wax seals
Chapter Eight - Flying back from New York
Chapter Nine - Fabio Tempestivi
Chapter Ten - The melancholic exile
Chapter Eleven - The last survivor
Chapter Twelve - Ragusa 1573
Chapter Thirteen - The Madonna's teeth
Chapter Fourteen - The hidden drawing
Chapter Fifteen - The Stone City
Chapter Sixteen - Tempestivi's funeral
Chapter Seventeen - The island of Sipan
Chapter Eighteen - Oxford
Chapter Nineteen - Back to Buffalo
Chapter Twenty - Restoration
Chapter Twenty-One - Pentimenti
Epilogue