View of Marcialla’s village square and the Church of Santa Maria
The news came quietly. The art world was stunned to learn that a fresco in the church of Santa Maria in Marcialla, not far from Florence, had been attributed to none other than Michelangelo.
Residents of Marcialla, a tiny village south of Florence, have for generations claimed that a fresco depicting the deposition of Christ in their local parish church of Santa Maria was done by Michelangelo. After dedicated study by numerous art experts and historians, the attribution is official; Michelangelo, along with the probable assistance of two of the artists friends-Granacci and Bugiardini-created the fresco. It was the two associates intervention, as well as some more recent overpainting, that complicated and delayed the attribution.
One of the most important pieces of evidence to support the attribution is the discovery of initials behind the altar facade in the church’s side chapel. The initials, MBF, had been hidden for centuries. The letters stand for, it is believed, Michelangelo Buonarotti Fecit – or Michelangelo Buonarotti Fiorentino (Michelangelo Buonarotti did this or Michelangelo Buonarotti of Florence). Additional evidence that this is Michelangelo’s work is supported by the fact that the letters “M” and “B” were the same as those the artist painted above a crucifix in the church of Santo Spirito in Florence.
Removing the altar stone behind which are the letters “MBF”
The local parish priest, Father Rosario Palumbo, went to Dottoressa Elsa Masi, a local resident and retired chemist, to share with her that he had overheard a parishioner talk about seeing the initials behind the chapel’s altar stone many years prior during a youthful prank.
Dottoressa Masi has lead efforts to achieve formal attribution of the fresco, regardless of final result. She reached out to the expert Renaissance art history community to have this important piece of news investigated.
There are further data points to confirm Michelangelo’s hand; in the winter of 1494, the artist sought refuge with the Augustinian monks who lived and worked in the Marcialla church and monastery. The Medici had been ousted from Florence, thanks to the ‘mad monk of Ferrara’, Domenico Savonarola. In order to avoid being caught up in the political and social turmoil surrounding anyone associated with the Medici, Michelangelo fled.
The fresco may have been created as a way of thanking the Augustinian monks for their hospitality and protection. The Order would later support Michelangelo’s anatomical studies in underground rooms beneath the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence.
The figure on the right in the fresco, a muscular bearded man, is conjectured to be Michelangelo’s imaginative interpretation of his own face in older age. When compared to the face of Nicodemus in the artist’s sculpture of the Pieta, now displayed in Florence’s Museum of the Works of the Duomo, as well as numerous etchings and paintings of the artist in his old age, there are certainly arguments to be made.
Etching of Michelangelo
The triangular form of the the main figures in the fresco are known to have been favored by the artist. Additionally, and not unknown in Michelangelo’s work, Joseph, the father of Christ, is not depicted in the fresco.
Professor Robert Weiss, in his 1942 book The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity (1969), made the assertion that the fresco was Michelangelo’s. Then, the fresco slipped back in to its quiet corner of a small church in rural Tuscany-until now.
After years of tireless work, the art’s community has made it official: Michelangelo is the artist who created the fresco.
It is always a surprise and a stunning statement about hidden treasures of art, to learn of yet another masterpiece by a Renaissance genius on the side altar of a small church, in a small village, in the hills of Tuscany.
IF YOU GO:
The village of Marcialla is located about forty minutes south/southwest of Florence. The fact that this lovely village is ‘off the map’ of the heavy tourist traffic makes it all the more enticing as a day excursion destination.
(We were given permission to video inside the Church of Santa Maria in Marcialla to present the fresco. As soon as that video is completed and approved, we will update this blog post with a link so that readers can view the work.)
Please call the church office before visiting. You will need to confirm that the church is open for visitors.
Our thanks to Villa San Filipo for this map