An Obsession with Michelangelo, The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Andrea Commodi exibition presents Commodi’s Study for The Fall of the Rebel Angels, an exceptional loan from Palazzo Pitti in Florence, together with a number of drawings from the Uffizi’s Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe. This striking and fascinating work introduces Andrea Commodi to an international audience, and provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the intense and innovative relationship that this inventive, though lesser-known artist, developed with the art of Michelangelo, whose works are now on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the magnificent exhibition curated by Carmen Bambach, Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer.
A highly original artist, the painter Andrea Commodi (Florence, 1560-1638), active between Florence and Rome, was widely celebrated by his contemporaries for his skills as a copyist and relentless draftsman. An acquaintance of the Buonarroti family, he had access early on to the corpus of Michelangelo’s drawings still in their possession, which he faithfully copied and upon which he meditated all his life. When he was commissioned by Pope Paul V (1550-1621) to decorate the chapel of his palace (today the Quirinal Palace) with a program to rival Michelangelo’s Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel, Commodi had the unique opportunity to measure himself against the master.
The subject of Commodi’s work was the Fall of the Rebel Angels. For unclear reasons, possibly the compelling but frightening comparison with Michelangelo’s Last Judgement, Commodi’s project for Paul V was abandoned, and all that is left is this preparatory study for the fresco.
Curated by Elena Carrara.
On view until January, 11 2018
Monday through Friday – 10am to 5pm
The exhibit will be closed on Dec. 25 – 26, 2017 and Jan. 1, 2018
Reservation no longer available