When art historians saw this wood sculpture for the first time, discovered 20 years ago in an antiquities shop, they were left speechless. Looking at the proportion of the forms and the dramatic strength... was like seeing the footsteps of a genius.
It was guarded for centuries as an object of private devotion by a family of Florence. In the past years the Italian State purchased it for 3 million Euros.
There are no documents that can reveal the paternity of this sculpture. But after 15 years of study and stylistic comparison, a group of historians have concluded that it must be Michelangelo who made it, when he was around 20 years old.
Cristina Acidini
Director, Museum Network of Florence
In this muscular and proportionate anatomy one can see the results of studies carried out directly on cadavers, and the early stylistic characteristics that would be fully developed in the Pietà in the Vatican, or in the marble David. The Italian parliament has opened its doors for a month to this beautiful work.
