Florence has a new art attraction, opening later this week: A hidden chamber under the Medici Chapels, where Michelangelo spent two months or so in hiding and drawing on the walls.
The sketches, dating to 1530, were long forgotten in a room that was used for centuries as a coal bunker, up until 1955. The room was then sealed and forgotten under a trapdoor covered with furniture until it was found again in 1975. The pandemic canceled plans for it to be opened to visitors in 2020.
How Michelangelo came to produce the walls full of sketches of figures, many of them in monumental size, as well as facial details and unusual poses, is tied up in the politics of his day. Michelangelo was hiding from his patron, Pope Clement VII, a member of the Medici family; the artist had helped supervise the city’s rebel fortifications during a republican revolt against the Medicis.
Visits to the new exhibit will be limited to four people at a time, with pauses between visits to avoid too much exposure to light for the delicate images.
