''Epifania'' ( en,
Epiphany
Epiphany may refer to:
* Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight
Religion
* Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ
** Epiphany season, or Epiph ...
) is a
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
or full-scale drawing in
black chalk by
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
, produced in Rome around 1550–53. It is 2.32 metres tall by 1.65 m wide, and is made up of 26 sheets of paper.
The composition shows the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
, with the Christ child sitting between her legs. An adult male figure to the right, probably
St Joseph
Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...
, is pushed away by Mary. In front of him is the infant St
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
. The adult figure standing to Mary's left is unidentified, as are other figures only just visible in the background. Michelangelo repeatedly changed the composition and its forms, as is apparent in the cartoon's alterations. The composition was originally thought to be of the
Three Kings
The biblical Magi from Middle Persian ''moɣ''(''mard'') from Old Persian ''magu-'' 'Zoroastrian clergyman' ( or ; singular: ), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, also the Three Magi were distinguished foreigners in the G ...
, which may be the reason for the title, but is now understood as referring to Christ's siblings mentioned in the Gospels (explained by
Saint Epiphanias—another possible source for the title—as Joseph's sons by a previous marriage, and hence Mary's stepsons, leaving their marriage unconsummated—hence her pushing Joseph away—and
Mary forever a virgin).
Michelangelo's biographer
Ascanio Condivi
Ascanio Condivi (1525 – 10 December 1574) was an Italian painter and writer. Generally regarded as a mediocre artist, he is primarily remembered as the biographer of Michelangelo.
Biography
The son of Latino Condivi and Vitangela de' Ric ...
used this cartoon for an unfinished painting. A 19th-century Scottish collector, John Malcolm of Poltalloch, bought it for only £11 0s 6d. and, on John's death in 1893, his son
John Wingfield Malcolm gave it to the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
.
[BM PD 1895-9-15-518.] Parliament voted £25,000 to purchase the rest of his collection for the museum two years later (). The cartoon is on display in Gallery 90 of the Museum.
Notes
See also
*
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
References
P. Barenboim (with Arthur Heath), ''Michelangelo’s Moment: The British Museum Madonna'' (LOOM, Moscow, 2018)*J.A. Gere and N. Turner, ''Drawings by Michelangelo in the British Museum'', exhibition catalogue (London, The British Museum Press, 1975)
*M. Hirst, ''Michelangelo and His Drawings'' (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988)
*M. Royalton-Kisch, H. Chapman and S. Coppel, ''Old Master Drawings from the Museum'', exhibition catalogue (London, The British Museum Press, 1996)
*J. Wilde, ''Italian drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings'', 2 (London, The British Museum Press, 1953)
External links
The British Museum's online description of Michelangelo's cartoon
{{British Museum
Prints and drawings in the British Museum
Drawings by Michelangelo
1550s drawings