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Rare Michelangelo Sketch Found Inside Vatican

Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News

For this reason, they brought with them precious sketches by Michelangelo. To prevent a market for these sketches (at that time Michelangelo's drawings were already in great demand), the master destroyed the sketches as the stone cutters returned from their business trips.

The newly discovered sketch survived because a supervisor used the back of the paper to write down the names of some people who had created problems with the stone's transport to Rome.

The sketch then ended up in files concerning the costs of the basilica's construction and was discovered only after recent research carried by Rome's Bibliotheca Hertziana and the University of Bonn.

"The discovery is important not only because the sketch is especially rare, but because it shows that a nearing 90-year-old Michelangelo was still in charge of the basilica's work and was taking important decisions," the Vatican newspaper reported.

Michelangelo completed the dome and four columns for its base before his death in February 1564. The structure was completed by architect Giacomo della Porta around 1590.

The Vatican will present the sketch at a news conference on Monday.

Related Links:

Rossella Lorenzi's blog: Archaeorama

The life of Michelangelo Buonarroti

"L'Osservatore Romano"

History of Rome