Portrait of Michelangelo
by DANIELE da Volterra, Oil on wood, 88 x 64 cm
This unfinished portrait has recently been identified as the work of Daniele da Volterra, Michelangelo’s faithful follower and the author of a bronze bust of the great Florentine artist. Indeed, an inventory drawn up after Daniele’s death lists “a portrait of Michelangelo on panel.” It was probably painted about 1545, when Michelangelo would have been seventy. It was the source for numerous copies.
The portrait looks unfinished, but Daniele has fully described the sculptor’s features and his left hand, almost as though recalling Michelangelo’s notion that, “It is necessary to keep one’s compass in one’s eyes and not in the hand, for the hands execute, but the eye judges.”
Based on the information from Giorgio Vasari, this portrait of Michelangelo is traditionally attributed to Jacopo del Conte. The question of attribution is not yet settled.