Michelangelo: The Last Decades

In 1534, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) moved to Rome, never to return to his hometown of Florence. Michelangelo: the last decades at the British Museum focuses on the final 30 years of Michelangelo’s life. Although he returned to Rome at the request of Pope Clement VII (1478-1534) to paint a fresco of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, it led to new artistic commissions and reconnections with friends. Despite already being the most renowned artist in Europe, Michelangelo’s Christian faith motivated him to create some of the most remarkable works of his career. 

The exhibition displays preparatory drawings for the Last Judgment, among other studies, including architectural projects, drawings, poems, and personal letters. Rather than depicting an artist in decline, the exhibition reveals the astonishing energy that Michelangelo brought to his work in his later years.

Michelangelo had already reluctantly completed the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel when the Pope called him back to paint a fresco of the Last Judgment on the altar wall. Clement VII died shortly after Michelangelo started working, and Pope Paul III (1468-1549) continued to oversee the project until its competition in October 1541. The fresco depicts the Second Coming of Christ and the Judgement of Souls. Michelangelo portrayed Jesus as a muscular, naked youth – something which had to be altered later by Daniele da Volterra (1509-66), an apprentice of Michelangelo.

Shortly after returning to Rome, Michelangelo befriended the poet Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547), marchioness of Pescara, a member of the spirituali, an elite group of religious reformers. Existing letters suggest the pair may have been more than friends, and Michelangelo wrote her many sonnets and spent hours making her drawings. In return, Vittoria gifted Michelangelo a manuscript of spiritual poetry.

Another friend, Tommaso de’ Cavalieri (1512-87), also received a lot of attention from Michelangelo, who frequently sent him gifts of sonnets and drawings. Cavalieri’s good looks fitted Michelangelo’s preference for figure drawing and the two remained friends for the rest of the artist’s life. Cavalieri was at Michelangelo’s bedside when he died.

Despite insisting he was not an architect, Michelangelo spent many of his later years designing buildings. After completing the Last Judgement fresco under Pope Paul III, the pope asked him to work on his family palace, the Palazzo Farnese. The architect Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1484-1546) started constructing the building in the 1510s until his death. Michelangelo made several changes to the building, including a higher cornice at the top of the façade and a statelier balcony below. Following this, Pope Paul III commissioned him to work on the renovation of the Capitoline Hill, particularly the Piazza del Campidoglio. Michelangelo’s plans were so grand that it was many years before construction could begin. The work finally started only a year before Michelangelo’s death.

Pope Paul III also appointed Michelangelo as the architect of St Peter’s Basilica. Although construction had already started under Sangallo, Michelangelo felt the interior of the building was too dark. After stripping the building’s design to its bare necessities, he focused on creating a dome that could be seen for miles.

Already in his 70s, the building works took up most of Michelangelo’s time, but he still found opportunities to create illustrations. The majority of these he gave to other artists, such as Marcello Venusti (1512-79), to turn into paintings. Venusti created a copy of Michelangelo’s Last Judgement before the Vatican employed Daniele da Volterra to cover up the nakedness of the figures. Michelangelo employed Venusti to produce several paintings of his design, including the Annunciation for the church of Santa Maria della Pace and Holy Family, now owned by Alnwick Castle.

Between 1550 and 1553, Michelangelo created a full-scale preparatory drawing of Epifania, spanning 26 sheets of paper. It depicts the Virgin and Child with John the Baptist and several other figures. There is no known patron for this work and it appears Michelangelo abandoned it and offered the drawings to his pupil, Ascanio Condivi (1525-74), who developed it into a painting.

Michelangelo continually returned to subjects such as the Virgin and Child throughout his later years. He also had an interest in the crucifixion. His final sculpture, the Rondanini Pietà, depicts the grieving Virgin supporting her son’s body. The sculpture, which eventually stood in the Palazzo Rondanini, took Michelangelo many years to complete, almost right up until his death.

Crucifixion scenes frequently cropped up in Michelangelo’s later poems and sketches. The artist did not receive commissions for these works but chose to produce them to reflect on his mortality and hope for salvation.

Many letters exist from Michelangelo to his fellow painters, friends and assistants, as do letters to his nephew Leonardo Buonarroti. Michaelangelo never married nor had any children, so he felt it was up to Leonardo to carry on the family line. Determined to find a wife for Leonardo, Michelangelo told his nephew not to worry too much about a dowry and not to be too picky about beauty because “not being, after all, the most handsome youth in Florence yourself, you need not bother overmuch, provided she is neither deformed nor ill-favoured.” Michaelangelo also frequently wrote to him about his aches and pains, including a debilitating bladder stone.

Towards the end of his life, Michelangelo dictated letters to friends to write because he could no longer keep his hands steady. On 14th February 1564, Daniele da Volterra wrote to Leonardo on Michelangelo’s behalf, urging him to come to Rome because Michelangelo’s health was deteriorating. Sadly, Michelangelo passed away four days later before Leonardo could arrive.

The people of Rome immediately started to plan a lavish funeral for Michelangelo, but Leonardo smuggled his uncle’s body back to Florence to be buried at the church of Santo Croce, near the Buonarroti family home. Leonardo commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build a tomb for Michelangelo. It was so grand that it took over 14 years to complete.

Michelangelo’s works are regarded as the embodiment of terribilità, a quality ascribed to art that provokes awe in the viewer. Following his death, his admirers eagerly acquired anything that Michelangelo had drawn or touched, even the smallest scrap of paper. Many artists produced busts, medals and biographies of Michelangelo, which is why he remains a popular, almost divine figure today.

The British Museum does not focus on Michelangelo’s greatest achievements, such as the Sistine Chapel ceiling or the statue of David. Instead, the exhibition explores how Michelangelo coped with his workload as an elderly man. As a very private man, only his letters reveal parts of his personal life, but even those letters are limited to poetry, drawings and the poor health of an old man. Michelangelo’s final drawings reveal he was a deeply religious individual desperate to find a sense of peace as he came to terms with mortality.

Michelangelo – The Last Decades is on show at the British Museum until 28th July 2024. Tickets are priced from £18.

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