Vasari Art Codex

trending_up market schedule Feb 5, 2026 visibility 2 link 2 artists, 2 galleries

michelangelo sistine chapel study christies 2718805

A previously unknown Michelangelo drawing, a red chalk study for the foot of the Libyan Sibyl on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, was discovered after an owner submitted a photograph to Christie's online estimate service. The work, created around 1511–12, sold at Christie's New York for $27.2 million, far exceeding its $1.5–2 million estimate and setting a new auction record for a Michelangelo drawing. The anonymous seller inherited the piece from his grandmother, and it had been in his family since the late 1700s.

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gavel restitution schedule Jan 30, 2026 visibility 2 link 21 artists, 5 galleries

leon black art collection revealed jeffrey epstein file 1234771582

A 51-page document released as part of the Jeffrey Epstein files appears to catalog the extensive private art collection of billionaire collector and former MoMA board chair Leon Black. The document, which lists works by masters from Michelangelo to Picasso under corporate entities linked to Black, reveals valuations and details of a collection largely kept from public view, including works held as promised gifts to major museums like MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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museum exhibitions schedule Jan 20, 2026 visibility 3 link 5 artists

michelangelo florence art trail 2738744

Seven museums in Florence have merged to form the Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze e Musei del Bargello, creating the world's largest collection of works by Michelangelo. The new complex includes the Bargello National Museum, the Medici Chapels, Palazzo Davanzati, Orsanmichele, Casa Martelli, the former Church of San Procolo, and the Accademia, home to Michelangelo's David. Starting March 15, joint tickets will be available, with a system-wide pass costing €38 for 72 hours. Ticket prices at individual museums will rise on February 1, and three themed tours will launch in May, including one focused on Michelangelo's innovations.

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article culture schedule Jan 6, 2026 visibility 3 link 9 artists, 1 gallery

Five new art books to look out for this spring, including key artist biographies and the tale of an artistic rivalry

Five new art books are set for release this spring, including a biography of 17th-century painter Michaelina Wautier, a study of Louise Bourgeois using unpublished archival material, a dual biography exploring the rivalry between Michelangelo and Titian, a catalog accompanying the Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Tate Modern, and a volume on Francis Bacon’s literary influences housed at the Hugh Lane Gallery.

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article news schedule Dec 22, 2025 link 10 artists, 1 gallery

10 art restorations in 2025 2725850

In 2025, a series of major art restorations unveiled transformative discoveries in masterpieces by Caravaggio, Raphael, and Artemisia Gentileschi, among others. Caravaggio's final work, *The Martyrdom of St. Ursula* (1610), owned by Intesa Sanpaolo, was cleaned ahead of Rome's "Caravaggio 2025" exhibition, revealing hidden faces and a soldier's helmet previously only visible by x-ray. At the Vatican Museums, a decade-long restoration of the Raphael Rooms concluded with the revelation that two allegorical figures in the Hall of Constantine were painted by Raphael himself, not just his assistants, rewriting art history. Meanwhile, Artemisia Gentileschi's *Hercules and Omphale* (ca. 1635–37), damaged in the Beirut explosion, underwent emergency conservation by the Getty.

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 22, 2025 visibility 1 link 4 artists, 3 galleries

Inside Kashi Hallegua House, The Historic Kochi Mansion Hosting One of the Biennale’s Most Provocative Art Exhibition

The historic 200-year-old Kashi Hallegua House in Kochi's Jewish quarter has been transformed into Ishara House, hosting the exhibition "Amphibian Aesthetics" during the Kochi-Muziris Biennale season. Running from December 13, 2025, to March 31, 2026, the show features 12 international artists including Shilpa Gupta, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Dima Srouji, with works responding directly to the building's architecture and maritime histories. The exhibition is organized by Ishara Art Foundation and curated with an "amphibian" lens, exploring themes of transition, climate crisis, and cultural displacement.

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article culture schedule Dec 12, 2025 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

art bites sistine chapel michelangelo critics 2718347

The article recounts the creation and controversy surrounding Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgement on the west wall of the Sistine Chapel. While the chapel attracts 25,000 daily visitors and is celebrated as a pinnacle of Renaissance art, the west wall initially provoked scorn from church officials and critics like Biagio da Cesena and Pietro Aretino, who objected to its nudity, pagan imagery, and perceived idolatry. Michelangelo retaliated by painting his detractors into the fresco—Da Cesena as King Minos with donkey ears and a snake biting his genitals, and Aretino as Saint Bartholomew holding flayed skin resembling the artist.

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person people schedule Dec 4, 2025 visibility 2 link 7 artists, 3 galleries

A brush with… Kader Attia—podcast

Kader Attia, the Algerian-French artist born in 1970, is the subject of a podcast interview that explores his three-decade career across photography, collage, sculpture, installation, and sound. Attia, who lives in Berlin and Paris, discusses his central concept of "repair" and how it connects to violence, injury, colonialism, and political issues. He reflects on his Algerian-French identity, his travels in Congo and Mexico, and his influences from Michelangelo to writers like Karima Lazali, Édouard Glissant, and Aimé Césaire. The podcast also highlights his current exhibitions, including "Shattering and Gathering our Traces" at Lehmann Maupin in New York, "The Lost Paradise" at Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo in Seville, and "A Descent into Paradise" at Museo Amparo in Puebla, Mexico, as well as his participation in the Bienal de São Paulo and the 24th Paiz Art Biennial.

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article culture schedule Dec 2, 2025 link 6 artists

roman sculpture 2710619

This article explores the rediscovery of Roman sculpture during the Renaissance and its profound influence on artists like Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci. It details how Roman sculptors, inspired by Greek methods after the conquest of Greece in 146 B.C.E., created highly realistic works that served both artistic and political purposes, glorifying emperors and reinforcing imperial power. The piece highlights six iconic Roman sculptures—including the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, the Colossus of Constantine, Trajan's Column, and the Augustus of Prima Porta—describing their historical context, artistic features, and enduring legacy.

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museum exhibitions schedule Dec 1, 2025 link 12 artists, 1 gallery

sonnabend collection works museum italy arte povera pop art 1234764426

A new museum dedicated to the legendary art collection of dealer Ileana Sonnabend opened in Mantua, Italy, this past weekend. Housed in the 13th-century Palazzo della Ragione, the Sonnabend Collection Mantova displays nearly 100 artworks valued at $270 million, including masterpieces by Pop artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, Arte Povera sculptors such as Michelangelo Pistoletto, and contemporary figures like Bruce Nauman. The project is a partnership between the Municipality of Mantua, the Sonnabend Collection Foundation, and Marsilio Arte, with a six-year renewable loan agreement.

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article culture schedule Dec 1, 2025 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

art bites michelangelo military fortifications 2709244

Michelangelo, best known for masterpieces like the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the Pietà, also served as the governor and procurator general of fortifications for Florence in 1529, tasked with designing military defenses against the Medici family. After the Medici were expelled in 1527, Michelangelo joined the "Nine of the Militia" committee, but his overly complex drawings were so impractical that almost none were built. The Medici, backed by Pope Clement VII, successfully besieged Florence in 1529–30, forcing Michelangelo into hiding in a secret chamber beneath the Medici Chapel, where he drew figurative works rediscovered in 1975. He was eventually pardoned and went on to create major commissions like the tomb of Pope Julius II and The Last Judgement, but left Florence for Rome in 1534.

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article news schedule Nov 27, 2025 link 9 artists, 4 galleries

Repeat art fraudster arrested for stealing Courbet painting

London gallery owner Patrick Matthiesen consigned a Gustave Courbet painting, *Mother and Child on a Hammock* (1844), to the Nicholas Hall Gallery in New York for Tefaf Maastricht 2023, listed at $650,000. After it failed to sell, Matthiesen was contacted by a man calling himself Thomas Doyle (also A.J. Doyle), who claimed to be a former US Air Force pilot, government contractor, and art dealer with family ties to Doyle Auctions. Despite Doyle having 11 prior fraud convictions—including stealing a bronze Degas statue in 2007—Matthiesen was convinced by artworks Doyle sent for inspection, including works attributed to El Greco, Rubens, and a Michelangelo drawing. In 2024, Doyle borrowed the Courbet to show a potential buyer and never returned it. Doyle has now been arrested for the theft.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 25, 2025 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

michelangelo drawing sistine chapel christies new york 1234763395

A five-inch-tall red chalk drawing of a foot, attributed to Michelangelo (1475–1564), is set to be auctioned at Christie’s New York in February with an estimate of $1.5–2 million. The work was discovered when Giada Damen, a specialist in Old Master drawings at Christie’s, flagged it from a public online submission; after extensive provenance research, technical analysis, and comparison with known sketches, Christie’s has declared it a preparatory study for the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508–1512). If authenticated, it would be one of only two such Michelangelo drawings remaining in private hands.

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