Michelangelo and the Ideal body

The exhibition was conceived and curated by art historian Ludovica Sebregondi, chief curator of the Palazzo Strozzi, and archaeologist Takashi Iizuka of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. It investigates the origins of male beauty and how these are represented in the work of Michelangelo, in view of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Visitors will see full body sculptures by Michelangelo after viewing over 70 works that illustrate the various ages of man through major works from the ancient world to the Renaissance. Paintings, frescors, wood panels, sculptures, drawings, engravings, greek vases and Renaissance plates will illustrate the origins and evolutions of the male body in art.

The second section of the exhibition is dedicated to Michelangelo, and presents two masterpieces that belonged to Grand Duke Cosimo de’ Medici. These are the Young St. John from the Capilla del Salvador in Ubeda, Andalusia, owned by the Casa Ducal de Medinaceli and sculpted by Michelangelo and twenty, and the Apollo-David from the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence.