Michelangelo Lovers Question
 

When I was a young girl I watched a show on Michelangelo and I distinctly remember them mentioning a special church in Florence. When Michelangelo was in his 20's I believe, he was dared by a friend to carve a self portrait into a brick in the side of a church blindfolded. Does anyone have any idea what church that was?

I remember that program - it aired on PBS. I checked Wikipedia and found a reference to the drawings in the Medici chapel. Here's the link. Scroll down to the Medici Chapel section.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo

Here's another reference to the drawings.

http://www.museumsinflorence.com/mus...i_chapels.html

Thank you both so much for the references. Adrienne I think you are right that it was a PBS special. I remember renting a copy of it from my local library. I looked at both links but I didn't seem to find exactly what I was looking for (I am tired at the moment so it is possible that I missed it). From what I recall from the show, Michelangelo carved a face in a single brick on the outside of a church while blindfolded. I remember the commentary saying that most people walk right by and have no idea that they are walking by this rare gem.

The story sounds apocryphal to me. For one thing, you can't carve a brick, even if you're Michelangelo, because bricks are friable. For another, it's difficult to imagine that Italy's art authorities would not have marked or possibly transferred to a museum an original work by Michelangelo.

There's a list of available Michelangelo DVDs here:
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96m...lo.html#videos

It is not on a church. It is on the Palazzo Vecchio. And the story is that Michaelangelo carved it using his hands behind his back, not that he was blindfolded. (Some versions of the story say he was dared to do it that way, other that he was showing off.) Here's a picture of it:

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/9738224

zeppole - I agree with Palazzo Vecchio. However, il bisnonno (great grandfather) of my two daughters has always told me that it was Leonardo who did it - again behind his back.

I suppose we shall never know but what we really want to know is if the Battle of Anghiari is really under the plaster in Palazzo della Signoria ......

What you DO need to know is that the Vecchio is absolutely magnificent INSIDE

nochblad, you are right, it's by Da Vinci.

Zerline, if you don't know the answer, best not to make stuff up on a supposition. The Da Vinci carving is famous, and still in it's original location, open to the elements.

Having looked at the photo, I can see why it has not been marked or transferred. Nor would I call it "a rare gem".

It's clearly carved in stone and not in brick.

There seem to be differing versions of its authorship.

Finally, "Se non e vero, e ben trovato."

Thats it! Thank you so much Zeppole! I'm not surprised that I got some of the details wrong since it has been so long since I saw that program. I am so excited! To me, this is definitely a rare gem even if it is by Da Vinci. :-) Last time I was in Florence I tried to find it but of course I didn't since I was obviously looking in the wrong places. This time I will find it! And Dukey1 you are right, the Vecchio is magnificent.