Michelangelo

Michelangelo (1475-1564) turned his hand to panel painting several times, but of these attempts not many are completed. Considering the artist's attitude towards his work, indicated by the quantity of projects he left unfinished, his use of tempera, at a time when the oil medium was taking hold of Italian painting, may not be surprising as paintings in egg tempera required meticulous planning.

The unfinished nature of this painting allows us to see some of the steps that went into its realisation. The two figures to the left of the Virgin were seemingly abandoned before much detail was added. Although, the characteristic green underpaint artists in tempera used to create skin colours is visible. This technique was employed widely. In some panel paintings from this period the green under layer is visible through the image, whether or not this is intentional is hard to suggest. Similarly, the robes of the unfinished pair reveal underdrawing, something most often invisible to the naked eye. The level of detail drawn into the folds of the material to describe the way it falls around the body is testament to the meticulous nature of Michelangelo, and provides a strong comparison with the Byzantine use of tempera.

Interestingly, as a youth, Michelangelo was apprenticed in the shop of the Ghirlandaio brothers and inevitably learnt many stylistic approaches from them. However, the way Michelangelo is able to blend colours, as if in oil, is very different to the application of paint in Ghirlandaio's panel exhibited here.