by Cristina Acidini e Alessandro Cecchi
“Buonarrotiana. Studi su Michelangelo e la famiglia Buonarroti”, vol. 4
Officina Libraria 2023
The restoration of the Inclination by Artemisia Gentileschi, the most famous artist of the Italian and European 17th century, involved not only conservation work on the painting but also an extensive diagnostic campaign using the most advanced imaging techniques for restoration. The Inclination, in fact, commissioned by Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger in 1616 for the Gallery of the family palace, was painted as a nude female figure reclining on clouds and holding a compass: Around 1680, a descendant of Michelangelo the Younger, probably his nephew Leonardo Buonarroti, commissioned Baldassarre Franceschini, known as the Volterrano, to paint a blue drape and veils that would conceal the nudity of the Inclination, making it more suitable to an idea of decorum suggested by a stricter morality. In addition to the restoration reports and scientific investigation reports, the volume contains in-depth essays on Artemisia and her relationship with Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger, on the historical and philosophical assumptions of the magnificent iconographic programme of which the Inclination is a part, on the figure of Michelangelo the Younger within the literary, scientific, musical and political context of early 17th-century Florence, and on his relationships with figures such as Galileo Galilei and the musician and soprano Francesca Caccini.