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Amazing Collection of Michelangelo Drawings Is Now in the U.S. For the First Time

By Sara Barnes on October 8, 2019

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A post shared by Teylers Museum (@teylersmuseum) on Sep 22, 2019 at 7:03am PDT

A trove of rare Michelangelo drawings is now in the United States for the first time. On loan from the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands, the amazing cache features 25 individual sheets, nearly all of which contain artwork on both sides of the page. They go well beyond doodles, though. The collection, originating from the Queen Christina of Sweden, includes the likes of preparatory drawings for the Sistine Chapel. The delicate displays are currently at the Cleveland Museum of Art. In February 2020, they’ll arrive at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Michelangelo was a true Renaissance man who worked in a variety of media and created masterpieces from frescos to sculptures. These special drawings give museum-goers a comprehensive look at his varied career as well as an intimate view of his creative process. In addition to the Sistine Chapel plans, there are early drawings for unrealized frescos, figurative studies, as well as initial sketches for statues commissioned by Pope Leo X for the Medici tombs in the San Lorenzo Church in Florence.

The Cleveland and Los Angeles museums were co-organizers on this exhibition titled Michelangelo: Mind of a Master. Their rare loan comes as the Teylers is temporarily closed for renovations, and it marks the first time the prized drawings have ever left their care since obtaining them in 1790. But it’s not for a lack of others trying. The Metropolitan Museum of Art had wanted the works in their show Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer in 2017. Teylers turned them down, however, citing that they didn’t want their offerings to “get lost in the shuffle” of the massive exhibition.