Michelangelo – the last decades review: an 'absorbing' exploration of art
New exhibition focuses on works from the final 30 years of the artist's long career
![Detail from Michelangelo's The Punishment of Tityus (1532)](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/y9EXPfLGeEXYb4eL8LRYF7-415-80.jpg)
In 1534, Michelangelo Buonarroti left his native Florence for the final time. He had been summoned to Rome to work for Pope Clement VII, and would spend the rest of his life there.
He was already the most famous artist of his age, said Hettie Judah on the i news site, and was renowned for the "masterworks" created during an "intense" period earlier in his career – from 1501, when he began sculpting David, to 1512, when he completed the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Yet Michelangelo was now 59 years old, "suffering from kidney stones and feeling his age": he regarded the "vast" commissions he would be expected to produce for the Pope "with apprehension".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This is the starting point for a new exhibition at the British Museum, which follows the artist's story until his death in 1564 at the age of 88 – a period of his long career that remains "less explored" by comparison with his well-documented youth. The show brings together some 100 exhibits, including drawings by Michelangelo himself and many works by younger artists under his tutelage, as well as a wealth of his personal correspondence. By turns entertaining and "poignant", it adds up to a fascinating portrait of an artist facing up to his "own mortality".
The major works for which Michelangelo was commissioned in his final decades – notably "The Last Judgment", an "intensely personal" fresco commissioned for the Sistine Chapel – obviously cannot be removed from the Vatican, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. The exhibition instead relies on his preparatory drawings, and a projection of the fresco.
Although the drawings don't quite communicate the grandeur of the finished article, they still contain extraordinary passages, including "sketches of swarming muscular nudes, struggling and fighting" to "join the ranks of the blessed". Even so, this show rather takes "the drama out of his life". The artist's homosexuality, for instance, is largely overlooked in favour of his devout Catholicism in old age. Worse still, far too much space is given to paintings by his "awful" pupils. Even as a Michelangelo obsessive, I found this "hard work".
"The ardour, even severity, of Michelangelo's spirituality may shock a secular audience," said Alastair Sooke in The Telegraph. Indeed, visitors must steel themselves "for a history lesson in religious schism" in order to appreciate much of the work here.
Nevertheless, the drawings are sublime: "sketches buzz with figures, like bees in a hive, and reveal his methods"; sketches Michelangelo made for a "beautiful young Roman nobleman with whom he was besotted", including an eagle "about to tear into a stripling's torso"; the shading in a "stunning" crucifixion scene renders Christ's flesh almost "squishable". All in all, this is an austere but "absorbing" show that "encourages close-up contemplation" of his 50 drawings on display.
British Museum, London WC1 (020-7323 8000, britishmuseum.org). Until 28 July
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Red Speedo: a 'darkly comic' doping drama
The Week Recommends Lucas Hnath's play stars Finn Cole as a 'reptilian' swimmer determined to win at all costs
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
One Aldwych: where London's creative spirit takes centre stage
The Week Recommends This five-star Covent Garden hotel is the epitome of elegant independence
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Charlotte Dujardin and equestrianism's dark side
In the Spotlight Olympic gold medallist and dressage star's suspension over horse whipping brings abuse in horse sports back into the spotlight
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
6 coastal homes in Cape Cod
Feature Featuring a wall of glass in Mashpee and an undulating roofline in Wellfleet
By The Week Staff Published
-
Peng Shepherd's 6 favorite works with themes of magical realism
Feature The author recommends works by Susanna Clarke, George Saunders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Francis Alÿs: Ricochets – a 'heart-stopping' exhibition at London's Barbican
The Week Recommends 'Mesmerising' films of children at play around the world from Kharkiv to Mosul
By The Week UK Published
-
Mishal Husain: BBC journalist shares her six favourite books
The Week Recommends Newsreader and Radio 4 presenter picks works by Louisa May Alcott, Jamil Ahmad and more
By The Week UK Published
-
Eno: 'stimulating and cerebral' documentary that's never the same twice
The Week Recommends A 'fascinating' look at the mercurial British musician and activist Brian Eno
By The Week UK Published
-
Longlegs: 'nerve-jangling and devilishly bleak' horror film
The Week Recommends Nicolas Cage gives perhaps the most 'terrifying' performance of his career as the titular serial killer
By The Week UK Published
-
The CIA by Hugh Wilford: 'lively and original' history of America's spy agency
The Week Recommends The book has been dubbed a 'must-read' for those interested in intelligence and national-security affairs
By The Week UK Published
-
Laura van den Berg's 6 favorite books with hidden secrets
Feature The author recommends works by Patricia Lockwood, Gillian Flynn, and more
By The Week US Published