Michelangelo - The Last Decades

This exhibition looks at the last 30 years of Michelangelo's remarkable life, when his return to Rome, having been summoned by Pope Clement VII to paint a fresco of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, brought him new commissions and reunited him with some of his closest friends. 

Preparatory drawings for the Last Judgment as well as the recently conserved Epifania, one of only two surviving cartoons by Michelangelo,show his renewed energy and desire to challenge himself. These works are displayed alongside studies for Michelangelo's grand architectural projects as well as drawings, poems and intimate letters that reveal his personal passions and anxieties. Rather than showing an artist in decline, this exhibition shows the astonishing dynamism that Michelangelo brought to his work in the final decades of his life as he explored salvation and confronted his mortality.

The exhibition runs from May 2 – July 28, 2024 at the British Museum, Great Russell St, London, England, UK.

To learn more about this exhibition, please click here.   

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