Michelangelo by Adriano Marinazzo
Published on the occasion of the 550th anniversary of Michelangelo’s birth.
Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine, 2025
Published in conjunction with Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine, this research catalog acc... more Published in conjunction with Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine, this research catalog accompanies the exhibition curated by Adriano Marinazzo, which opened on March 6, 2025, to mark the 550th anniversary of the birth of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564).
CRITICA D' ARTE, ns. 13-14, 2022
Michelangelo depicted himself in a sheet of the Archivio Buonarroti while painting the Sistine Ce... more Michelangelo depicted himself in a sheet of the Archivio Buonarroti while painting the Sistine Ceiling. The self-portrait is not, as many scholars wrongly asserted, a caricature. For the first time, this article wants to point out the intriguing resemblance between Michelangelo’s self-portrait silhouette and the artist’s representation of God in the iconic fresco of the Creation of Adam. This panel was the first painted by Michelangelo in 1511 for the second part of the ceiling’s decoration. God seems to silently say to Adam, «Be still and know that I am God» (Psalm 46:10). The Lord’s creative act is often identified with the gesture of the right arm towards Adam. Likewise, in the sheet of the Buonarroti Archive, the artist represented himself in the act of creating, giving life, through the brush. This tool represents an extension of Michelangelo’s body.
In the artist’s self-portrait, his right arm is stretched toward the ceiling’s surface to give life to the stories of Genesis. The artist holds a brush that approaches the vault’s surface but does not touch it. This gesture recalls Michelangelo’s painting of God’s index, who gives life to Adam without touching him. The artist’s self-portrait goes towards the surface of the ceiling, as God goes towards Adam. Michelangelo was (also) a Creator.
Architectural Histories, 2020
The Wall Street Journal, 2020
Adriano Marinazzo published a paper that points to an overlooked drawing in the artist’s Louvre a... more Adriano Marinazzo published a paper that points to an overlooked drawing in the artist’s Louvre archive as proof that Michelangelo may have carved the outline of a curly-haired man into the stone wall of Florence’s town hall known as the Palazzo Vecchio.
This essay presents a hypothetical reconstruction of Michelangelo’s project for the tombs of the ... more This essay presents a hypothetical reconstruction of Michelangelo’s project for the tombs of the Medici Popes. The artist’s drawing of Casa Buonarroti 128 A is the basis for this reconstructive hypothesis. The
reconstruction is fascinating and consistent with Michelangelo’s architectural projects, of the second decade of the sixteenth century, for the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence.
Art e Dossier, no. 379, pp. 76-81, 2020
David (replica) fotografato dalla posizione in cui si trova il profilo inciso sulla parete di Pal... more David (replica) fotografato dalla posizione in cui si trova il profilo inciso sulla parete di Palazzo vecchio, Firenze, piazza della Signoria.
The topic addressed in this article will be the subject of an upcoming book by the author. What w... more The topic addressed in this article will be the subject of an upcoming book by the author. What was Michelangelo’s initial project for the Tomb of Pope Julius II? The hypothesis proposed here follows Vasari and Condivi’s descriptions of this project. A hypothesis that allows identifying similarities between the original design for the Tomb and the Sistine Ceiling frescoes.
On a folio from the Buonarroti Archive in
Florence (XIII, 175v), under some verses
by Michelangel... more On a folio from the Buonarroti Archive in
Florence (XIII, 175v), under some verses
by Michelangelo, we find a sketch which
has always been a real riddle for scholars.
Various hypotheses have been formulated
so far, but none seems quite convincing.
The article suggests that the drawing may
refer to the architectural structure of the
vault of the Sistine Chapel and that
Michelangelo executed it during the
preparatory stage of his fresco work, before
the scaffolding had even been set up.
The sketch, presumably dating from no earlier
than the spring of 1508, may have
served as a reminder and jotting for the
artist when he was studying the surfaces to
be painted and how to arrange the
scaffolding. This would make the sketch a
rare and precious document, possibly the
oldest one of its kind: for no other
rendition of the architectural layout of the
vault survives among Michelangelo’s
preliminary drawings.
Florentine Studies Society Bulletin, nos. 26-27, Altralinea Edizioni, Florence, 2019, p. 34-43
The text, through the analysis of some important drawings preserved at Casa Buonarroti, reconstru... more The text, through the analysis of some important drawings preserved at Casa Buonarroti, reconstructs the planning phases of the architectural façade of San Lorenzo Church in Florence by Michelangelo, advancing new hypotheses especially in relation to the drawing 44A. In the final part of the essay, there is an analysis on another drawing by Michelangelo recently correlated with Sistine Vault; this study was part of the 14th Biennale of Architecture in Venice, different from the other biennales, because focused on Architectural History and architectural elements.
In this text the author proposes a hypothesis on the identification of the sketch appearing high ... more In this text the author proposes a hypothesis on the identification of the sketch appearing high up on the right of the sheet CB 44A, which for Charles de Tolnay is a block of marble. This idea is promising, but rather than a single block of stone, the line quickly drawn by Michelangelo appears to be the outline of a mountain that depicts a seated figure whose head tilts forward. It is well known that Michelangelo dreamt of sculpting one of the mountains in the Carrara quarries into a colossal statue. If this is the case the profile drawn on CB 44A would be the only surviving graphic document of this legendary project.
This study is focused on the Michelangelo’s painted architecture of the Sistine Vault. This two-d... more This study is focused on the Michelangelo’s painted architecture of the Sistine Vault. This two-dimensional 'virtual' architecture is converted in three-dimensional 'real' architecture, with surprising results.
Wall Street Journal Website, Interactive Page:
Michelangelo's First Sketch of the Sistine Chapel... more Wall Street Journal Website, Interactive Page:
Michelangelo's First Sketch of the Sistine Chapel?
Architectural historian Adriano Marinazzo believes a manuscript he found stored in Florence's Buonarroti Archive is actually Michelangelo's first sketch of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The 1508 sketch, a longtime mystery to scholars, was found beneath of the artist's poems. Compare the sketch to a view from below of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling.
"La Repubblica" Koolhaas hosts also Michelangelo.
The Biennale of Rem Koolhaas seems made on purp... more "La Repubblica" Koolhaas hosts also Michelangelo.
The Biennale of Rem Koolhaas seems made on purpose to bring back dignity to those parts of architecture that have never been taken into consideration too much, those crushed by the sudden most colorful and glamorous and rich news. At the same time "go back to fundamentals" also means make room for further researches, not strictly related to the market, but closer to the study and to the art. As in the case of Adriano Marinazzo, Italian researcher at the Muscarelle Museum of Art of the College of William and Mary in Virginia, who discovered the original sketch by Michelangelo for the paintings of the Sistine Chapel.
Pitti Palace by Adriano Marinazzo
Through the use of virtual design, instrumental investigations such as ground penetrating radar a... more Through the use of virtual design, instrumental investigations such as ground penetrating radar and thermal
imaging, archival documents and historical iconographic sources (some already known and correlated with the
Pitti Palace while others refer to it for the first time here) it was possible to come up with new hypothesis useful for
understanding the history of the factory building plots from the actual location of the «casa vecchia» with respect
to the fifteenth-century palace of Luca Pitti up to the grand-ducal expansions by Cosimo I de ‘Medici.
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Michelangelo by Adriano Marinazzo
In the artist’s self-portrait, his right arm is stretched toward the ceiling’s surface to give life to the stories of Genesis. The artist holds a brush that approaches the vault’s surface but does not touch it. This gesture recalls Michelangelo’s painting of God’s index, who gives life to Adam without touching him. The artist’s self-portrait goes towards the surface of the ceiling, as God goes towards Adam. Michelangelo was (also) a Creator.
reconstruction is fascinating and consistent with Michelangelo’s architectural projects, of the second decade of the sixteenth century, for the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence.
Florence (XIII, 175v), under some verses
by Michelangelo, we find a sketch which
has always been a real riddle for scholars.
Various hypotheses have been formulated
so far, but none seems quite convincing.
The article suggests that the drawing may
refer to the architectural structure of the
vault of the Sistine Chapel and that
Michelangelo executed it during the
preparatory stage of his fresco work, before
the scaffolding had even been set up.
The sketch, presumably dating from no earlier
than the spring of 1508, may have
served as a reminder and jotting for the
artist when he was studying the surfaces to
be painted and how to arrange the
scaffolding. This would make the sketch a
rare and precious document, possibly the
oldest one of its kind: for no other
rendition of the architectural layout of the
vault survives among Michelangelo’s
preliminary drawings.
Michelangelo's First Sketch of the Sistine Chapel?
Architectural historian Adriano Marinazzo believes a manuscript he found stored in Florence's Buonarroti Archive is actually Michelangelo's first sketch of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The 1508 sketch, a longtime mystery to scholars, was found beneath of the artist's poems. Compare the sketch to a view from below of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling.
The Biennale of Rem Koolhaas seems made on purpose to bring back dignity to those parts of architecture that have never been taken into consideration too much, those crushed by the sudden most colorful and glamorous and rich news. At the same time "go back to fundamentals" also means make room for further researches, not strictly related to the market, but closer to the study and to the art. As in the case of Adriano Marinazzo, Italian researcher at the Muscarelle Museum of Art of the College of William and Mary in Virginia, who discovered the original sketch by Michelangelo for the paintings of the Sistine Chapel.
Pitti Palace by Adriano Marinazzo
imaging, archival documents and historical iconographic sources (some already known and correlated with the
Pitti Palace while others refer to it for the first time here) it was possible to come up with new hypothesis useful for
understanding the history of the factory building plots from the actual location of the «casa vecchia» with respect
to the fifteenth-century palace of Luca Pitti up to the grand-ducal expansions by Cosimo I de ‘Medici.