Michelangelo’s First Painting may be the smallest exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but what is on view is bringing a very large crowd to this beloved institution. It is the first time that the very first painting of the great Italian Renaissance artist, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (or Michelangelo for short) is on view in America. Bought by the Kimbell Art Museum, located in Forth Worth, Texas, for an undisclosed amount earlier this year, the painting has been in the hands of the Met’s restoration staff and is now making its debut. Due to the current financial crisis, the Met was unable to purchase the painting, as they wanted to, so this may be your last chance to see this marvel in our metro area.

The Torment of Saint Anthony, painted by Michelangelo at the tender age of twelve or thirteen in 1487-1488, is one of the four known easel paintings attributed to Michelangelo. Based on the design from a well-known engraving at the time by the German artist, Martin Schongauer (1448–1491), this image depicts Saint Anthony attacked by demons, whose temptations he fought to resist. Michelangelo’s version adds drama to the scene by giving it a pronounced setting and by adding exquisite detail to the exotic and fantastical creatures.

Their grimace and the attention given to their bodies, like their fish-like scales, makes the work not simply an exercise in copying, but rather a masterpiece of its own. It is fascinating to see how this early image of a figure suspended in midair carries over to some of the artist’s more known works; here we have the battle between good and evil that will continue to underscore Michelangelo's work. Take The Last Judgment, for example, made in 1534-1541 on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. A muscular and clean-shaven Christ is in the center of a whirlwind, much like St. Anthony amidst the demons.

The Torment of Saint Anthony is a must see, if only to say you have, and I look forward to the volumes of published scholarship that I imagine will follow this momentous occasion.

--John Everett Daquino

(Image: Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonarroti) (Italian, Florentine, 1475–1564) The Torment of Saint Anthony (Detail), ca. 1487–88, Oil and tempera on wood; 18 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. (47 x 34.9 cm), Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. (DETAIL, top).