Rome (EFE).- A total of 342 letters from the Renaissance genius Michelangelo Buonarroti have been restored and digitized in order to preserve his legacy and understand his relationship with the most important men and women of his time.
The letters, as explained today at the presentation of this project in Florence (north), were “undoubtedly” written by the famous painter and sculptor and some of them ran the risk of being perforated by the chemical elements of the ink.
It is a collection of letters that the father of “David” or “Pieties” wrote throughout his life and that were part of the voluminous collection guarded by the Casa Buonarroti in Florence, according to a statement from the entity.
Among these documents is the letter that the sick master dictated three days before he died on February 18, 1564 to Daniele da Volterra (famous for later covering up the nudes of the Last Judgment that Michelangelo painted in the Vatican Sistine Chapel).
Michelangelo’s letters to influential figures of the time
There are also letters to some of the most influential figures of his time, such as Pope Clement VII, the Queen of France Caterina de Medici, the poet Vittoria Colonna or the famous artist and collector Giorgio Vasari, author of the famous “Lives” ( 1550) by Renaissance masters.
The restoration project, of great importance from the artistic and cultural point of view, has been made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Ente Cambiano bank and also includes the digitization of the letters.
The selection is part of a vast collection of documents signed by Michelangelo throughout his life and kept by his descendants in an archive with 169 volumes and around 25,000 pages.