The Risen Christ (Michelangelo)

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The risen Christ - Michelangelo

The risen Christ is a sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti , created between 1519 and 1521 and placed in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. It is considered one of the main works of Michelangelo and is one of the most important works of art of the Italian Renaissance. The work has been preserved in two versions.

The founder and the commission to Michelangelo

The founder Marta Porcari came from a wealthy, long-established Roman family who had close ties to the Vatican, especially to Pope Alexander VI. , as well as to the Medici family represented in Rome. The Porcari have been traceable in the Rione Pigna since the 13th century , where they owned extensive real estate. From the 15th century, members of the Porcari family found their final resting place in the Dominican church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Girolamo Porcari († October 19, 1503) bought his own burial chapel in this church and gave it to St. Jerome , dedicated to his namesake (ital. Girolamo). It was located in the left aisle, next to the entrance to the cloister, which is now closed.

Marta Porcari died in June 1512, probably at the age of 37 and without direct descendants. In her will of February 18, 1512, she committed her two nephews, Pietro Paolo Castellani and Metello Vari, whom she made her universal heirs on the condition that they would have an altar built in Santa Maria sopra Minerva for their burial place. She left the design to her heirs. "To commemorate the social rise that has been achieved may not have been the driving motive behind Marta's altar foundation." On June 14, 1514, the two heirs and the canon Bernardo Cenci, as executor of the will, signed a contract with Michelangelo who, within four years, until June 1518, executed a marble sculpture depicting a life-size Christ, standing and naked, with a cross in his arm in that posture, according to the idea of ​​the aforementioned Michelangelo . Michelangelo was to receive 200 gold ducats for this. The two heirs undertook to contribute an additional 30 ducats from their own assets, which were probably intended for a framing aedicule .

How exactly and through whom contact was made with the 39-year-old artist, who was responsible for the monumental work of the tomb for Pope Julius II , has not been preserved - this may have come about through the Medici family connected to the Dominicans , who also commissioned it by Michelangelo.

One of the heirs, Paolo Castellani, died in 1519, so that responsibility for the final completion had to be assumed by Metello Vari alone. The order is documented in numerous notes, a drawing by Michelangelo and documents relating to transport and invoices for the assistants. In more than 68 letters written between June 1516 and August 1532 - 25 of them from Metello to Michelangelo alone - the work of art is the subject of correspondence, as numerous problems arose during execution, scheduling and accounting.

First version - The Christ by Bassano Romano

The Christ by Bassano Romano
The black vein

Michelangelo began in 1514 with the Christ on a block of Carrara marble, which may have come from the tomb of Julius II and which had become superfluous due to the reduction to a wall tomb. To his great disappointment, a striking black vein was already visible in the marble during the course of the work in 1515, exactly at the point where the face was intended. He left the work unfinished in his workshop, devoted himself to the work on the Julius grave, which he should not have interrupted contrary to the contractual agreements, and continued to work on the central figure of Moses . 1516 returned to Florence, which he should not leave until 1534 for the commission in the Sistine Chapel - the fresco The Last Judgment .

After the unveiling of the second version of Christ in Minerva, in January 1521 he gave the unfinished sculpture Metello Vari, who had worked hard to get it. In return, he gave Michelangelo a foal as a token of thanks and appreciation and set up the unfinished work in his garden. The scholar Ulisse Aldrovandi saw them there in 1556 and described them: “In a small courtyard or garden, a naked Christ can be seen with the cross on the right side, not finished because of a vein that was discovered in the marble of the face; a work by Michelangelo; he gave them to Metello. Another, similar to this one, is now in the Minerva ”.

Up until a few years ago there was only vague information about the whereabouts of this first, unfinished version of the work: in 1607 the sculpture was put on the antique market. Acknowledged by the painter Passignano , Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, a great-nephew of Michelangelo, acquired the statue, which was only partially worked on. In 1618, Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, who later became Pope Urban VIII , also considered buying the work after Passignano's advice. The patron and art connoisseur, Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani , however, may have anticipated the cardinal. He acquired the sculpture as an enrichment to his already extensive gallery of ancient statues and had it completed. It is possible that the sculpture was completed by the young Gian Lorenzo Bernini . In 1638, after the Marchese's death, it is recorded in the inventory of the Giustiniani collection. In 1644 it was transferred from Rome to the church of San Vincenzo in Bassano Romano , where it adorned the high altar until 1970, framed by an aedicule. The church was built by Giustiniani around 1621 and was one of his possessions in northern Lazio. From 1979 the figure was placed in the sacristy of the church and since 2001, after its rediscovery, it has been in the right side chapel.

For a long time this first version was considered lost or its provenance and its artists had been forgotten. It was only known from literature. As part of the preparations for the Caravaggio ei Giustiniani 2001 exhibition in Rome, two art historians discovered this first version of Christ in Bassano Romano. Since then, the Benedictines, who look after the church and the monastery, have made it available for exhibitions at home and abroad. B. 2017 for the exhibition Michelangelo & Sebastiano in the National Gallery (London) .

Second version - The risen Christ in Santa Maria sopra Minerva

Although the heirs had not yet paid the agreed advance payment, Michelangelo obtained a new block of marble in 1518, similar in size, but considerably deeper, and in 1519 began work on the second version of the statue in his workshop in Florence. In April 1520 this was completed and ready to be transported to Rome. After final payment of the remaining sum by the heirs in January 1521, it was transported by sea to Rome via Civitavecchia in March, where it arrived at the Ripa Grande in June / July. Pietro Urbano da Pistoia, an assistant to Michelangelo, was entrusted with the accompaniment, the final processing of the unfinished parts and the installation in the basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. In September 1521, Sebastiano del Piombo wrote alarmingly to his friend Michelangelo that Pietro Urbano had ruined his right foot, right hand, nose and beard during the work. Michelangelo then entrusted the Florentine sculptor Federigo Frizzi from the Giovanni da Reggio workshop with the completion of the sculpture. Already in 1519 he had received the order from Michelangelo to design and execute the aedicula for the installation of the statue in the Porcari chapel. The unveiling of the Christ took place on December 27, 1521. Since Michelangelo found the originally planned location too gloomy, an agreement was reached with the client to place the Christ in the much more prominent place in front of the left choir pillar. The donors immortalized themselves in an inscription, which has now been lost, together with their coat of arms. In the course of the redesign of the church and the relocation of the main altar (1848–1855), the altar, aedicula and the inscription on the statue were removed. This gave it today's list.

description

  • The risen Christ, second version

  • view left

  • Right view

  • Rear view

The basic elements of the work are specified in the order, Michelangelo is given the artistic freedom of design. The pronounced muscular body is that of a middle-aged man in perfect anatomical shape, according to the ancient ideal of beauty. On his left, in his sinewy, strong arm, he is holding a large cross towering over him, embraced by his hand. In front of that, in his right hand, some of Jesus' instruments of suffering : a pipe, sponge vinegar and the rope with which he was tied to the cross. The compositional scheme in the posture is determined by the spiraling rotation of the body, which Michelangelo developed further and was to become a model for future generations. The head turned away from the cross with the humble and vulnerable neckline was designed by the artist after the traditional face of Christ , with flowing hair and goatee, the gaze directed into the distance. The encircling arm movement is reminiscent of the statue of Apoxyomenos by Lysipp , as is the rotation of the hip, which is continued in the left leg and thus reproduces the leg position of the classic counterost . The toes of the detailed left foot protrude over the rocky hill. The ambivalence and the dynamic of the opposing movements of gaze and body are also reminiscent of Raphael's Galatea from the fresco in the Villa Farnesina , which Michelangelo visited during a stay in Rome in 1517. The figure stands firmly on a rock, behind it slid over a stump, the shroud. Sebastiano del Piombo wrote in his letter of September 6, 1521: [Alone] the knees of this [Christ] figure are worth more than all of Rome . And in 1568 Giorgio Vasari described the statue as an extremely admirable figure .

The figure of Christ has been venerated as a miraculous image since the end of the 16th century, which led to the fact that the order general Antonio Cloche (1686–1720) had the right foot of the Christ wrapped in brass so that he could withstand the kisses of the predominantly female pilgrims. This was removed again in the course of the restoration work in the 19th century.

Iconography and nudes

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the statue was referred to in literature as “Christ” or “Christ of Minerva” ( Ferdinand Gregorovius , Jacob Burckhardt , Max Sauerlandt and others). Henry Thode saw in him the Man of Sorrows (1908), Charles de Tolnay referred to him in 1948, referring to a receipt Metello Varis to Michelangelo in 1532, in which he confirmed that he had received a “free-standing, naked figure, which means the resurrection of our Lord” , as the '' Risen Christ with the tools of the Passion, i.e. the Man of Sorrows '', although all wounds or gestures of suffering are missing. Further iconographic assignments refer to the portrayal as Adam, who seeks to justify the figure's nudity. Gerda Panofsky sees in him the “New Adam” who overcame the sin and death of the old Adam, according to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus , in which Christ on his journey into hell proclaims the good news to the souls languishing in the underworld and leaves them his cross for consolation. Frommel interprets the meaning of the statue, to promise the believers the resurrection of soul and body, as Augustine describes in his work De civitate Dei .

What is unique about Michelangelo's figure is the nude depiction of the adult Christ, which even at the time of the High Renaissance was an exception and a significant breach of taboo. He can combine the ancient divine representation with Christian iconography by referring to the Bible and justifying that Jesus was placed in a carved grave with a shroud and that Peter only found the cloths in the empty grave, that is, Jesus at the moment Resurrection was naked (Luke 24:12; John 20: 6). However, this must have been supported by the highest representatives of the order and the faith, otherwise this commission would not have been carried out. For the first time in the crucifix of Santo Spirito in Florence, Michelangelo had artistically implemented the physical beauty of man, rediscovered in the Renaissance, and carved Christ on the cross without a loincloth. In other works, too, he invoked the ancient ideal of beauty and gave expression to his idea of ​​paradise, especially in his fresco The Fall of Man and Expulsion from Earthly Paradise .

After the Council of Trent , which forbade the depiction of shameless beauty , sculpture was a provocation. Between 1546 and 1638 a monk troubled by his conscience mutilated the male member, which is why a loincloth made of fabric had to be knotted around the figure, which had been naked until then. A loincloth made of bronze still wears the statue today.

Copies

Until the 18th century, the statue was considered by art connoisseurs to be the crowning achievement of all Michelangelo's works and was a symbol of the deepest admiration of countless believers. Many European princes and clergy endeavored to obtain a cast or a copy of the admired image for their collections. For many painters and sculptors, it has been the subject of inspiration and imitation. Even William V , Duke of Bavaria, used his diplomatic relations to Rome to get hold of a copy. After some difficulties, plaster molds for the production of a cast actually arrived in Bavaria in 1579. Friedrich Sustris complained that they were often used and bad, but he promised the Duke that he would make a wax casting from them. It has not been established whether a plaster cast followed. With the model in mind, the Renaissance sculptor Hubert Gerhard, who worked at the Bavarian court, was able to make a smaller copy of terracotta for the Duke's rich chapel . The oil gilding was probably already part of the equipment at that time.

Towards the end of the 18th century, however, interest in the Christ was lost and he was almost forgotten. It was only through the discovery of the first version that it moved more into the focus of discourse in art circles.

literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

  • Ulisse Aldrovandi : Delle Statue antiche, che per tutta Roma, in diversi luoghi et case . Giordan Ziletti, Venecia 1556, p. 247.
  • Gaspare Celio: Memoria fatta dal Signor Gaspare Celio . Scipione Bonino, Naples 1638.
  • Dorothea Diemer: Hubert Gerhard and Carlo di Cesare del Palagio - bronze sculptures of the late Renaissance 1. Deutscher Verlag für Kunstwissenschaft, Berlin 2004. ISBN 3-87157-204-7
  • Christoph Luitpold Frommel : Resurrected Christ ", his first version and the young Bernini . In: Artibus et Historiae 31 (2010), No. 62, pp. 15–34.
  • Herman Grimm : Michelangelo - his life in the history and culture of his time, the heyday of art in Forenz and Rome . Safari-Verlag, Berlin 1967, pp. 217 and 286.
  • Romeo de Maio: Michelangelo e la Controriforma = Biblioteca Universale Laterza. Editori Laterza, Rome 1981.
  • Gerda Panofsky-Soergel : Michelangelo's "Christ" and his Roman client (= Roman studies of the Bibliotheca Hertziana 5). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1991. ISBN 978-3-88462-072-4
  • Victor M. Schmidt: Statues, idols and nudity: changing attitudes to sculpture from the Early Christian period to the Counter-Reformation . In: Zweder von Martels (Ed.): Antiquity renewed: late classical and early modern themes . Leuven 2003, p. 224.
  • Silvia Danesi Squarzina: The Risen Christ . In: National Gallery Company (eds.): Michelangelo & Sebastiano . Exhibition catalog. Yale University Press, London 2017. ISBN 978-1-85709-609-5
  • Kerstin Schwedes: “Historia” in “statua”: On the eloquence of Michelangelo's sculptural works around Christ from Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome . Lang Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 1998. ISBN 3-63132-770-6
  • Ludovica Sebregondi Fiorentini: Francsco Buonarroti, Caveliere Gerosolimitano e archidetto diledantte . In: Rivista dell'arte 38, 1986, pp.? - ?.
  • Leo Steinberg : La sessualità di Cristo nell'arte rinascimentale e il suo oblio nell'epoca moderna , Milan 1986.
  • Giorgio Vasari : Le vite de 'più eccellenti architetti, pittori, et scultori italiani, da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri . 1568.
    • Ludwig Schorn, Ernst Förster (ed.): Giorgio Vasari: Life of the most excellent painters, sculptors and builders from Cimabue until 1567 . 6 volumes. Reprint of the first German-language complete edition, Tübingen and Stuttgart 1832–1849. Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms. 1st edition: 1983. ISBN 978-3-88462-018-2 ; 2nd edition: 1988. ISBN 978-3-88462-057-1
  • William E. Wallace: Michelangelo's Risen Christ . In: The Sixteenth Century Journal 28, 1997, pp. 1251ff.
  • Frank Zöllner, Christof Thoenes, Thomas Pöpper: Michelangelo - The complete work . Taschen, Cologne, 2007. ISBN 978-3-8228-3053-6

Web links

Commons : The Risen Christ  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual references and comments

  1. ↑ The founding of the Church of San Giovanni della Pigna in Rione Pigna probably goes back to the family.
  2. ↑ Girolamo Porcari was Bishop of Andria in Apulia, Canon of St. Peter in Rome, Dean of the Roman Rota and a favorite of Pope Alexander VI.
  3. ↑ today: Chapel of Pope Pius V. (Cappella Pio V.)
  4. ↑ Gerda Panofsky: Michelangelo's Christ, p. 41
  5. ↑ un Cristo, grande quanto el naturale, ingnudo, ritto, chor una chroce in braccio, in quell'attitudine che parrà al detto Michelagniolo
  6. ↑ The original contract has been preserved and is in the Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Florence
  7. ↑ Gerda Panofsky : Michelangelo's Christ , p. 15 ff.
  8. ↑ Sale in 2000 to the art dealer Bellinger, Munich for 20 million DM (10.22 million EUR) - see https://www.welt.de/print-wams/article86655/Das-diskrete-Geschäft-mit- Art-on-paper.html
  9. ↑ Frank Zöllner ff .: p. 425 ff.
  10. ↑ ... in una corticella, overo orticello, vedesi un Christo ignudo con la Croce al lato destro non fornito per rispetto d'una vena che si scoperse nel marmo della faccia, opera di Michel Angelo, et lo donò a M. Metello, et l 'altro simile à questo, che hora è nella Minerva lo fece far à sue spese M. Metello al detto Michel Angelo
  11. ↑ Christoph L. Frommel, p. 26ff.
  12. ↑ ... era nel medesimo grado questa borza che il Santo Matteo dell'Opera (Fig.) Et i Prigioni di Pitti ... (... this rough work was in the same condition as Saint Mattheus of the Opera (del Duomo) and the slaves of Pitti ... ); Ludovica Sebregondi Fiorentini: Rivista dell'arte vol. 38, 1986, p. 49-86
  13. ↑ Christoph L. Frommel: p. 27
  14. ↑ Silvia D. Squarzina: Michelangelo & Sebastiano, p. 249
  15. ↑ In 1997, Silvia D. Squarzina and Irene Baldriga, art historians at La Sapienza University, Rome and active in the Giustiniani archives, discovered the statue of the first version
  16. ↑ Gerda Panofsky: Michelangelo's Christ, Appendix I, letters in German translation
  17. ↑ But I explain to you that everything he worked ruined the whole thing, above all he shortened his right foot, which you can clearly see on the toes that he mutilated; In addition, he has shortened the fingers of the hands, especially the one holding the cross, namely the right one, so that Frizzi says that one thinks he was employed by kringelbakers: they don't look as if they were made of marble, they look as if he had made his merits with those who knead batter, they are so badly forfeited. - from the letter of Sebastiano del Piombo from Rome to Michelangelo - September 6, 1521 - Gerda Panofsky
  18. ↑ the funerary chapel Porcari, today Cappella Pio V. in the left aisle
  19. ↑ METELLUS VARUS ET P PAUL CASTELLANUS ROMANI MARTIAE PORCIAE TESTAMENTO HOC ALTARE EREXERUNT CUM TERTIA PARTE IMPENSARUM ET DOTIS QUAM METELLUS DE SUO SUPPLENS / DEO OPT MAX DICAVIT ( The Romans Metello Varo and Paolo der Castellani have built this altar from the Testament Porcari Third of the costs and a foundation that Metello added from his own. Dedicated to the best and greatest God )
  20. ↑ cf. z. B. Victory (1523-1524)
  21. ↑ Christoph L. Frommel, p. 24
  22. ↑ perché val più e 'zenocchii de quella figura che non val tutta Roma (fig.)
  23. ↑ ... un Cristo ignudo che tiene la croce, il quale è una figura mirabilissima, che fu posto nella Minerva allato alla cappella maggiore ...
  24. ↑ Gerda Panofsky: p. 166 ff.
  25. ↑ CONCILIUM TRIDENTINUM; Session XXV (December 3-4, 1563): Decretum de invocatione, veneratione et reliquis sanctorum et de sacris imaginibus
  26. ↑ quoted in MEMORIA fatta dal Signor Gaspare Celio (1638), p. 66: un frate per scrupolo li ruppe il membro, ancora vi stasse del continuo un panno - a monk knocked his limb off for reasons of conscience, so that there was a subsequent hit Be cloth .
  27. ^ Dorothea Diemer: Hubert Gerhard and Carlo di Cesare, p. 115

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 53.2 "  N , 12 ° 28 ′ 42.2"  E