A Comet to the East – Lecture by Sergio Taddei

A Comet to the East

Celestial signs and prophecy in the habitus spiritual of Michelangelo
and the artists of his Florentine circle

Lecture by Sergio Taddei

Thursday, April 13, 2023, 5 p.m.

Florence, Casa Buonarroti, via Ghibellina 70

The presentation is open to the public up to the maximum capacity allowed by security regulations

Sixteenth-century testimonies concerning Michelangelo and the Florentine artists of his time restore the image of personalities dominated by a profound reverence for celestial omens and prophecies. This attitude must have developed as a consequence of an intellectual education contested between the Garden and the Convent of San Marco and consolidated in the following decades in response to the dramatic events of the Italian Wars. Beginning with a letter from Bugiardini to Michelangelo dated 1532, which ominously interprets the apparition of a comet, the conference investigates this particular aspect of the spiritual sensibility of the Divine Artist and the artists of his Florentine circle.