Michelangelo and the Vatican: Masterworks from the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples March 11–June 10, 2018
Marcello Venusti after Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Last Judgment, 1549, oil tempera on poplar wood, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples.
Attributed to Jacopino del Conte, Portrait of Michelangelo (1475–1564), probably c. 1544, oil on wood, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, gift of Clarence Dillon.
Attributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti and workshop (over initial sketch by the master with later restorations), Cartoon of Venus Kissed by Cupid, c. 1535, charcoal on 19 sheets of paper, with outlines reworked for transfer of the design onto a working surface, mounted on canvas, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, Naples.
Attributed to Hendrick van der Broecke after Michelangelo Buonarroti, Venus and Cupid, oil on panel, c. 1550–70, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples.
Raphael, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, 1512, oil on panel, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples; photo by Luciano Pedicini, 1999, courtesy of Alinari / Art Resource, NY.
Tiziano Vecello, called Titian, Portrait of Pope Paul III, 1543, oil on canvas, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, Roman Soldiers, cartoon fragment for part of The Crucifixion of Saint Peter in the Pauline Chapel, Vatican, c. 1546, charcoal with black chalk on approximately 16 sheets of Royal Bolognese paper, outlines pricked for transfer, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, Naples.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, with the carpenters of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, Model of the Vault of the Chapel of the King of France in Saint Peter’s Basilica, late 1556–early 1557, limewood and other woods, gray and yellow paint, Fabbrica di San Pietro, Vatican City.
► Información en español sobre la exposición
Masterworks by Michelangelo and his contemporaries highlight the artistic legacy of Pope Paul III and the vital role that drawing played in art production throughout Europe in the late 15th and 16th centuries. Michelangelo and the Vatican features drawings, cartoons, paintings, sculpture, and prints by Renaissance master Michelangelo and his predecessors and successors, including Raphael, Rubens, Tintoretto, and Titian.
Largely drawn from the renowned collection of the Capodimonte Museum in Naples, Italy, the exhibition presents some 40 works from the 16th century, many commissioned or completed during the papacy of Alessandro Farnese, Pope Paul III. Remembered for his enthusiastic patronage of the arts in general, and of Michelangelo (1475–1564) in particular, Pope Paul III oversaw the completion of Michelangelo’s stupendous fresco The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. The exhibition features a unique, large-scale copy of The Last Judgment painted in oil by Marcello Venusti.
Additional highlights include two of Michelangelo’s finest monumental drawings: Roman Soldiers and Venus Kissed by Cupid; as well as two iconic portraits of Pope Paul III by Italy’s greatest Renaissance masters: Raphael and Titian. Complementing the Capodimonte Museum loans are works from the Vatican, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the University of Chicago Library, private collectors, and the MFAH collections.
► Audio Tour
The optional audio tour features fascinating insights from the curators about the exhibition and the works on view. Audio-tour players, based on availability, are located at the exhibition entrance. Offered in both English and Spanish.
► Exhibition Admission
Tickets, available online and on-site, include access to the Museum’s art collections.
| MFAH Member (Join now!) | Free |
| Adult (19+) | $23 |
| Senior (65+ with ID), Military (with ID), College Student (19+ with ID), Youth (13–18) |
$18 |
| Child (12 & younger) | Free |
Make It a Combo for Just $2 More! Save when you combine your tickets to Michelangelo and the Vatican with tickets to Peacock in the Desert: The Royal Arts of Jodhpur, India. A two-exhibition combo pack is only $25—general admission included!
This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, with the collaboration of the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples.
Generously underwritten by The Hamill Foundation.