Michelangelo Buonarroti

1913

Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1913. Emil Orlik (Czech, 1870–1932). Etching, drypoint, roulette, stipple and mezzotint; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund 1926.256 Emil Orlik’s 20th-century portrait of Michelangelo represents centuries of enduring fascination with the artistic genius of the Italian Renaissance. He based this print on a 16th-century portrait of Michelangelo by Jacopino del Conte. Creating a rich, inky black on the artist’s cloak with a combination of printmaking techniques, Orlik draws our attention to the lighter areas of the artist’s hand and head, the seat of artistic creativity and intellect. Shown in an austere setting, Michelangelo is portrayed as being solitary and perhaps slightly melancholy, ideals of artistic genius that aligned with Orlik’s time.