1553 (ca.), Michelangelo, Epifania -- British Museum (London)
From the museum label: Michelangelo made numerous cartoons during his career, but almost all of them are lost. This rare survivor served as the basis for a painting by Ascanio Condivi, an aspiring artist and author of a biography of Michelangelo published in 1553. Condivi's picture was derided by contemporaries and left unfinished. The design he used is iconographically unusual: though the Virgin, Christ Child and Baptist are recognisable, the identities of the other figures are uncertain. An inventory of Michelangelo's belongings describes the composition as an 'Epifania', a term usually associated with the Magi.
1553 (ca.), Michelangelo, Epifania -- British Museum (London)
From the museum label: Michelangelo made numerous cartoons during his career, but almost all of them are lost. This rare survivor served as the basis for a painting by Ascanio Condivi, an aspiring artist and author of a biography of Michelangelo published in 1553. Condivi's picture was derided by contemporaries and left unfinished. The design he used is iconographically unusual: though the Virgin, Christ Child and Baptist are recognisable, the identities of the other figures are uncertain. An inventory of Michelangelo's belongings describes the composition as an 'Epifania', a term usually associated with the Magi.