The Renaissance comes to Mexico with the art of Michelangelo

Direct from Italy two of the most important works of the Renaissance period reach the Soumaya Museum From Mexico City. This is a pair of certified replicas of “The David” and “The Mercy”created by the artist Michelangelo Buonarroti.

The pieces are authorized by the Italian government, the Accademia Gallery, in Florence —which protects “El David”—, and the Vatican Museums, in Rome —where “La Piedad” is located—.

The museum curator Francesca Conti, pointed out that both are made with carrara marblethe same area where the Italian artist obtained the raw material for his sculptures in the 14th century, although it was difficult to find the ideal blocks for their realization, especially for the representation of the biblical king.

This is because the sculpture measures 5.17 meters, and having a 1:1 scale with the original, it was necessary that the marble block had no cracks. In the case of this work, the original pedestal was also replicated, which is made of marble and red quartzite. Including the base, The David has a total height of 6.97 meters.

Conti said that these sculptures were made with molds from the originals, which were created in the 1920s, when Italy gave a marble replica of David to Uruguay. In this case, the artistic foundry Ferdinand Marinelli is the owner of the “David” and “La Piedad” molds.

The carving of these replicas was in charge of certified sculptors, who in turn worked under the direction of the Robert Domina, taking care of even the smallest detail, to the extent that, they assure, it has a margin of error of 0.01%.

“The ancient method of the pantograph was used, which is an instrument already used by the Greeks and the Romans. (The technique) consists of taking reference points to be able to replicate the work exactly. These reference points were taken from the original”, explained the curator.

The replicas were also made in the Pietro Bazzanti Gallery of Florence and they are the only two of their kind that this place has carried out to date. Both traveled by sea from Italy to the port of Veracruz, where they continued their journey by land to the Soumaya Museumwho acquired them to form part of his permanent collection and where they will join a replica of “La Piedad” in bronze.

“The Bazzanti Gallery Evaluate your buyers. The fact of being a cultural and free institution was undoubtedly one of the determining ingredients,” he said. alfonso miranda, director of the museum, who refused to share the cost of the two works. It should be noted that these are not the only replicas of these sculptures in Mexico.

“We are partying,” he declared at the unveiling ceremony. “Thank you for unveiling La Piedad and for this message to go to our brothers and sisters in northern Mexico and especially to Sinaloa,” added Miranda.

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED: After being restored, the House of the Vettii offers a glimpse of life in Pompeii

A little history

“El David” was created between 1501 and 1504 commissioned by the Duomo Operaas part of a project of 12 sculptures inspired by biblical characters that would be placed on the external buttresses of the apse of the church of Santa Maria del Fiore.

The block of marble, extracted from the Fanttiscritti quarry, in Carrara, it was worked on by other artists—some of whom damaged it—since decades ago, and it wasn’t until Michelangelo’s commissioning of the work that it finally saw a breakthrough and was finished a few years later.

When it was finished, the Florentine authorities decided to place it in the Piazza della Signoriawhere there is currently another replica, but it was not until 1873 that it was transferred to the Accademia Gallery, where it is exhibited today, although this after having suffered damage from the weather and vandalism.

On the other hand, “La Piedad” was commissioned by the Cardinal Jean Bilhères de Lagraulasambassador of the French monarch to the Holy See in 1498. It was finished in 1499, when the artist was 24 years old.

With information from El Universal.