Michelangelo's Secrets: Here's the Lost Sketch of the "Last Judgement"

Scientists are certain that an unsigned drawing bought by a Polish collector at a Swiss auction in 2019 is the real, long-lost sketch of Michelangelo's Last Judgement. After five years of in-depth study and research, experts from various fields of science have proven that the sketch is by the Renaissance master who painted the Sistine Chapel with his frescoes.

In a few days, the details of this great discovery will be revealed in Jasna Góra (Czestochowa), Poland, where a multimedia digital reproduction of Michelangelo's work, now kept in the Vatican Museums, can be seen - the event is scheduled for Thursday, when the criteria that guided a group of experts in attributing the sketch to Michelangelo, whose 550th birthday is this year, will be revealed. More than five hundred years after its creation, Michelangelo's The Last Judgement remains one of the most beautiful and controversial examples of Renaissance art.

For example, many art historians have debated at length whether the fresco was painted directly on the wall or whether it came from a preliminary sketch. Historical accounts, notably Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, refer to Michelangelo's early sketches for the painting of the Last Judgement, but no one has been able to locate them or confirm that they still exist. A possible answer to a long-standing question is emerging: how old is the Last Judgement?

In 2019, a Polish art collector ordered the purchase of a sketch relating to theThis sketch, on parchment with a fine pen and brown ink, was initially attributed to Giulio Clovio (1498–1578). The sketch, drawn on parchment with a fine pen and brown ink, was initially attributed to Giulio Clovio (1498-1578), one of Michelangelo's greatest assistants.

However, after receiving an appraisal of his new acquisition from the Gdansk Art Office, the buyer decided to submit the sketch for extensive academic study. The task of historical and stylistic iconographic analysis was entrusted to the Polish researcher Juliusz A͏ chroscicki of the University of Warsaw, in collaboration with London-based scholar Katarzyna Krzyzagór͏ska-Pisarek ͏ In addition, technical conservation studies, including spectroscopic and microscopic examinations, were carried out by a group of experts including Tomasz Kozielec, Head of the Department of Paper Conservation at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, and Tomasz Ojewski from the Faculty of Materials Engineering at the University of Science and Technology in Krakow.

What makes scholars believe that this is a genuine sketch by Michelangelo? The project leaders explain that the 'investigation' looked at several elements, focusing on the drawing style common to Michelangelo's work and the unique features that distinguish the sketch from known copies and fakes.The use of parchment as a material, rarely used by artists at the time, also increases the value of the piece and suggests a possible link to a papal commission. Finally, the ink used is ferruginous, typical of sketches from Michelangelo's period, and the detailed anatomical details show Buonarroti's particular skill. Jerzy Mizioek, a renowned expert on Renaissance paintings and a major scholar of Michelangelo's art, will speak about the discovery: "This paper is quite interesting," he says, "and it is of good quality; of course, you have to touch it to confirm its authenticity."

If the opinions put forward by the Polish researchers on Thursday are accepted by the scientific community worldwide, it will be an important milestone. Any doubt that the drawing is a simple sketch for the Sistine Chapel fresco has been dispelled. During Thursday's press conference in the Sistine Chapel, a facsimile of the sketch will be shown for the first time, while the original is safely protected in a bank vault in Warsaw.