NEW YORK—Revered Renaissance artist Michelangelo’s first painting will be on display in a special exhibition beginning today at The Metropolitan Museum of Art( Met). The oil painting, which looks like it could be the cover art for a Da Vinci Code sequel, is called “The Torment of Saint Anthony.” It is believed to have been created when the master painter was only 12 or 13 years old.
St. Anthony is known as one of the early Christian hermits. Born into a well-to-do family, he retired to the desert as a monk, where demons assailed him with temptations.
Recently acquired by the Kimbell Art Museum, in Texas, the painting has undergone conservation and technical examination at the Met. The exhibition, “Michelangelo’s First Painting,” will run through September 7, then the panel will return to the Kimbell Art Museum for display as part of its permanent collection.
“Today, many people think of Michelangelo as a sculptor, but he received his early training as a painter, in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), a leading master in Florence,” according to a Met press release. “It was only in about 1490, following this apprenticeship, that he learned to carve marble.”
According to Michelangelo’s 16th century biographers, his first work was a painted copy after a well-known engraving showing Saint Anthony tormented by demons. To give his monsters greater detail, Michelangelo went to the fish market to study the colors and scales of the fish.
Made about 1487-88 under the guidance of his friend and fellow pupil Francesco Granacci, Michelangelo’s painting was much admired.
In addition to “The Torment of Saint Anthony,” the small, focused exhibition includes “Portrait of Michelangelo” by Daniele da Volterra, a faithful follower of the master, and a facsimile of the aforementioned engraving, “Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons,” both from the Metropolitan Museum’s collection.
“The Torment of Saint Anthony” is the first painting by Michelangelo to enter an American collection, and one of only four known easel paintings generally believed to be by him. The others are the “Doni Tondo” in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery and two unfinished paintings in London’s National Gallery, “The Manchester Madonna” and “The Entombment.”
