Michelangelo was an experienced forger

Art critic Thierry Lenain of Institut Français in London claims that Michelangelo often faked works of art.

Michelangelo is one of the greatest masters of the Renaissance, but it turns out that Michelangelo was also an experienced falsifier, who made copies, aged them and replaced them with original masterpieces.

According to Lenin, the great Italian pursued a single goal - he admired those works that were forged, and sought to surpass their perfection in his work. For example, he produced such a high-quality copy of an engraving by Martin Schongauer that it could not be distinguished from the original.

Note that rumors about the falsifications of Michelangelo appeared earlier. One historical joke tells how in 1496 the young Michelangelo copied the Roman sculpture of Sleeping Cupid. He buried it in the ground in order to age his work, to give it the look of a real antique thing. After that, the artist sold the sculpture through an intermediary for a very significant amount.

According to Lenin, it was the manufacture of copies that brought Michelangelo first fame and marked the beginning of his dizzying career. Recall that Michelangelo was born in the family of a poor Florentine nobleman, his mother died shortly after playing wedding abroad after which the six-year-old future great master was given up to be raised in the family of his nurse.

It is important to note that the perception of the art of counterfeiting during the Renaissance was very different from the negative attitude that developed in subsequent centuries and is preserved today.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru