A work of art believed to be Michelangelo’s first painting — completed when he was 12 or 13 years old — has been acquired by a museum in Texas in a move that leaves other big galleries standing.
The Kimbell Art Museum, based in Fort Worth, paid an undisclosed figure for The Torment of Saint Anthony. Though the provenance of the painting has long been disputed, expert opinion has shifted in recent months to the view that it is indeed the earliest known painting by the master. —
The work, oil and tempera on a poplar panel measuring 47cm x 34cm, is dated to 1487 or 1488. At that time, Michelangelo had befriended an assistant in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio in Florence and is known to have copied an engraving of St Anthony by German master Martin Schongauer.
PHOTO: AP
The disagreement has focused on whether this painting was created by Michelangelo’s own hand or whether it was produced by other artists in the workshop. If confirmed as the missing Michelangelo, its acquisition by the Kimbell would be an astonishing coup for the museum.
It would make The Torment of St Anthony one of only four known easel paintings to have been created by Michelangelo. Two others are in the National Gallery in London and the fourth is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
It potentially provides clues as to how Michelangelo came to settle on the color palette he used in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.
“This is a painting that will be studied for years and years to come,” Kimbell director Eric Lee said.
The painting depicts a sour-faced, white-haired Saint Anthony being teased and tugged by monsters. It is based on the Schongauer engraving, but differs in 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.
Further evidence that leans toward the Michelangelo interpretation was uncovered in the past year while the painting was restored at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Layers of dirt and grime were removed to reveal the original oils, while modern technologies, including 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.
It was owned from 1905 until last summer by a British private collector. It was sold by Sotheby’s for US$2 million — a breathtaking bargain if it is the Michelangelo — to a New York art dealer who was convinced of its authenticity.
The Metropolitan, having completed the restoration, was also convinced but unable to find the funds for the purchase price.
Australia has announced an agreement with the tiny Pacific nation Nauru enabling it to send hundreds of immigrants to the barren island. The deal affects more than 220 immigrants in Australia, including some convicted of serious crimes. Australian Minister of Home Affairs Tony Burke signed the memorandum of understanding on a visit to Nauru, the government said in a statement on Friday. “It contains undertakings for the proper treatment and long-term residence of people who have no legal right to stay in Australia, to be received in Nauru,” it said. “Australia will provide funding to underpin this arrangement and support Nauru’s long-term economic
‘NEO-NAZIS’: A minister described the rally as ‘spreading hate’ and ‘dividing our communities,’ adding that it had been organized and promoted by far-right groups Thousands of Australians joined anti-immigration rallies across the country yesterday that the center-left government condemned, saying they sought to spread hate and were linked to neo-Nazis. “March for Australia” rallies against immigration were held in Sydney, and other state capitals and regional centers, according to the group’s Web site. “Mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together,” the Web site said. The group posted on X on Saturday that the rallies aimed to do “what the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration.” The group also said it was concerned about culture,
ANGER: Unrest worsened after a taxi driver was killed by a police vehicle on Thursday, as protesters set alight government buildings across the nation Protests worsened overnight across major cities of Indonesia, far beyond the capital, Jakarta, as demonstrators defied Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s call for calm. The most serious unrest was seen in the eastern city of Makassar, while protests also unfolded in Bandung, Surabaya, Solo and Yogyakarta. By yesterday morning, crowds had dispersed in Jakarta. Troops patrolled the streets with tactical vehicles and helped civilians clear trash, although smoke was still rising in various protest sites. Three people died and five were injured in Makassar when protesters set fire to the regional parliament building during a plenary session on Friday evening, according to
STILL AFLOAT: Satellite images show that a Chinese ship damaged in a collision earlier this month was under repair on Hainan, but Beijing has not commented on the incident Australia, Canada and the Philippines on Wednesday deployed three warships and aircraft for drills against simulated aerial threats off a disputed South China Sea shoal where Chinese forces have used risky maneuvers to try to drive away Manila’s aircraft and ships. The Philippine military said the naval drills east of Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) were concluded safely, and it did not mention any encounter with China’s coast guard, navy or suspected militia ships, which have been closely guarding the uninhabited fishing atoll off northwestern Philippines for years. Chinese officials did not immediately issue any comment on the naval drills, but they