ERASED CITY - Pictorial analysis : Erased Michelangelo
The image on the left, titled 'The Virgin and Child with Saint John and Angels', also called 'The Manchester Madonna', is an unfinished painting by Michelangelo dating back to approximately 1497.
As one of Michelangelo’s earlier works of art, the painting is left unfinished. Christ is seen indicating a passage in the book held by the Virgin and is contemplated by one pair of angels. The other pair of angels are studying a scroll, perhaps given to them by John the Baptist. It is believed that this book or the scroll may carry prophecies of Christ’s future sacrifice.
The draperies and the rock plinth are very similar to Michelangelo’s earliest sculptures and although the figures are arranged like in a frieze, the central figure does not sit on a richly-decorated altar nor background. This arrangement gives us reason to take a closer look and potentially interpreting the message (if there ever was any).
The pictorial void of the original painting mainly consists in the blankness of the painting. The density of detail in the finished part contrast with the green underpaint used for flesh tones and the blue sky and colour of the canvas (or primer) which Michelangelo used to sketch out the figures, and which were later meant to be rendered with layers of colour. In the finished part of the painting the black parts in the drapery were supposed to be overpainted with blue pigment (“lapis lazuli”), whereas in the unfinished part of the painting Michelangelo merely indicated the folds of the drapery by incising lines into the primer.
The image on the right, titled 'Erased Michelangelo', shows an attempt to exaggerate or re-direct the void of the painting. The undoing of the creative act of painting by graphically removing the layers of colour, and thereby turning the painting back into a sketch of void and sky, reveals the canvas as a ground for new possibilities.