"It happens that a show of Michelangelo’s drawings is at the Courtauld Gallery in London, through May 16. Gifts for a beautiful young Roman nobleman, Tommaso de’ Cavalieri, on whom Michelangelo had developed a crush, the drawings were ostensibly supposed to help Cavalieri learn to draw. Imagine Roger Federer handing you a DVD of himself at Wimbledon, saying “Just do this.” These are drawings of the most arcane refinement, unearthly beautiful."
Caravaggio has become hipper than Michaelangelo, apparently. Color me skeptical: I wonder to what extent either has ever been, or will ever be, hip, and whether his supposed antiheroism really means anything. I singled out this paragraph, because, as great as Caravaggio is, for me it will always be Michelangelo, and I remember when these drawings were first put on display. The Times of London gave the exhibition a beautiful write up.
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