Il scultore fiorentino: Giuliano Bugiardini's portrait of Michelangelo

In 1522 Ottaviano de’Medici, the uncle and agent of artistic contracts under Duke Cosimo I de’Medici, commissioned a portrait of Michelangelo Buonarroti from the artist’s lifelong friend, Giuliano Bugardini. Much more than an attempt to record Michelangelo’s physical appearance, the portrait serves as key instrument in the fashioning of the sculptor’s identity by including the white turban, an attribute commonly found in the portraits of the fifteenth-century Florentine artist, Donatello. The portrait was completed during the period when Michelangelo accepted the commission for the Medici tombs in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo; a project that would have solidified Michelangelo as the leader of Florentine sculptors.  In the absence of these works, Bugiardini’s portrait sought to crown Michelangelo with the turban of Donatello, emphasizing the notion that Michelangelo was the heir apparent to the traditions of sculpture in Florence. There are several copies of the portrait, and modern scholarship has primarily been concerned with the attribution and authentication. This paper will place the portrait within the historical context of Michelangelo’s career in the third decade of the sixteenth century, as well as the construction of his artistic identity during this period, which is ultimately dependant upon the life and career of Donatello.

Location: LDSOA, Room 150