tour 24 of 24
Michelangelo's drawings
Crucifixion by Michelangelo, a drawing in black chalk
Michelangelo made this devotional image for his
friend Vittoria Colonna. An aristocratic poet and religious
reformer, she became his confidante in the mid-1530s. Unusually,
Michelangelo shows the Crucified Christ alive and suffering, at
once human and divine. This imagery, as well as
Michelangelo's late additions of the lamenting angels and a
skull, may reflect Colonna's input into the design. Upon
receiving the drawing, Colonna wrote the following letter to
Michelangelo to thank
him:
Unique
master Michelangelo and my most particular friend, I have received
your letter and seen the Crucifix which has certainly crucified
itself in my memory more than any other picture that I have ever
seen. No image better made, more alive, or finished could be seen.
Certainly, I could never explain how subtly and marvellously it is
made, and for this reason I am resolved that I don't wish
it to be in the hands of anyone else … I've looked at it
closely using a lamp, a magnifying glass and a mirror: never did I
see anything more finely executed. (British
Library, Add. MS 23139, fol.
10)
Michelangelo was a
devout Catholic and during the last three decades of his life, his
faith deepened. This was partly inspired by Vittoria Colonna as
well as a growing sense of his own mortality. The Crucifixion was a
subject which he returned to right at the end of his life in a
series of three drawings. The potency of this earlier image
inspired a number of painted and engraved
versions.