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Did Michelangelo Buonarroti begin his art career as a forger? Here's Nora Landes' take--
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JohnnyEnzyme piefed.social JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-11
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In 1496, Cardinal Raffaele Riario, a voracious collector of Roman antiquities, added to his collection a marble sculpture of a sleeping Eros, god of love. The cardinal had purchased the sculpture through art dealer Baldassarre del Milanese, who made a reported 200 ducats on the sale. Despite its aged appearance, however, the sculpture was not a true Roman antique, but rather a forgery created just months prior by a then-relatively-unknown 21-year-old Florentine sculptor. Who could have crafted a forgery so convincing as to deceive the informed eye of an avid, if not overly knowledgeable, collector? None other than Michelangelo...

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-how-michelangelo-got-his-start-by-forging-antiquities

Myself, I don't have a strong opinion at this time. Well... at least the idea that Michelangelo was a complete fraud is ridiculous to me, altho the counterpoint idea that he kicked of his art career as a bit of a 'bad boy' certainly has legs to me.

"Me suspects that all kinds (across history) have skellingtons in their pocketses, my precious"-- Gollum.

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humble_boatsman sh.itjust.works humble_boatsman@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2025-01-15
#2 · Quote Reply

Marys hands are the only bad boys here

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JohnnyEnzyme piefed.social JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-11
#3 · Quote Reply

Marys hands are the only bad boys here

Well, her left hand was free.

And please don't just stand there, sailor-- that sail needs trimming!

1
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