Duff Scholarship

Delving a little deeper into the "missing" Michelangelo painting (next post down) I found that the British Museum not only holds the original drawing shown here, but also a letter from Michelangelo's friend the poetess Vittoria Colonna effusively thanking him for making the drawing for her. The Museum notes that the drawing "inspired a number of painted and engraved versions" (title link). Antonio Forcellino's claim that the Campion Hall painting by Marcello Venusti Crucifixion With The Madonna, St John And Two Mourning Angels is a "missing" Michelangelo is based on the false assumption that this drawing was the preliminary sketch for a painting by the master. Vittorio's letter smacks that notion on the head. So much for Italian scholarship!