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Michelangelo painting in Logrono

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Bainbridge

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Time of past OR future Camino
May-June 2023
September-October 2024
I understand from the book the Pilgrimage Road to Santiago that there is a Michelangelo painting of the crucifixion in the Iglesia de Santa Maria la Redonda. It is said to be in a vault behind the altar--you need to put in a coin to see it. A google search confirmed that it is there though one post stated "the painting IS SAID to be by Michelangelo" implying some doubt.

Has anyone seen the painting or have any more information on this?

Thanks!
 
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Bainbridge said:
Has anyone seen the painting or have any more information on this?
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I remember it the same way as @wisepilgrim but it was years ago: not easy to find, at the back of the altar, as so often in these churches you had to put a euro into a box to switch on the light to see details of religious art, a rather small canvas, obviously secured against theft and damage, and I remember it as being “attributed” to Michelangelo although the Gitlitz/Davidson book said that it was by Michelangelo and I had expected a much bigger painting. I did not photograph it but there are photos on the internet:

 
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In case you did not notice it: the EN, FR and DE Wikipedia articles have little information about the history and context of the painting while the Spanish version (see link in post #4) has more. However, some clown "edited" this article and changed all the names into "funny" names - a deed that also removed links.

Michelangelo is said to have painted this small oil painting in 1540 on commission from his friend Vittoria Colonna - and reading about her and her times is interesting, too. I find the DE article about her better than the EN one, including the chosen images, but, ok, you can't always have it all.
 
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We've been to Logrono three times on various camino routes. Every time we go there, we stop by the church to see the Michelangelo. It is indeed difficult to see, impossible to get a decent photo. But each time we visit, we find it more and more intriguing, for want of a better adjective. It is indeed considered a genuine Michelangelo. We will be in Logrono yet again in May. Of course, we will stop by to see it.
 
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In the 2000 edition of the Pilgrimage Road to Santiago, on page 127, there is statement that "the church behind the altar contains a painted crucifixion by Michelangelo (...). There is no wording indication the doubt
 
GraemeHall said:
It is indeed behind the altar, illuminated by paying a coin. During liturgies and other worship, it is covered to discourage tourists from disturbing worshippers. I took this photo in Holy Week of 2018.View attachment 142566
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In the interest of full disclosure - I did admire the painting for quite a while in Holy Week 2018, and I did take a photo. However this picture does not contain the same metadata my photos usually have, and I suspect it may be one I downloaded from the web to be the title page of a presentation about this Camino.
There is a fascinating story about how the figure of Mary Magdalene in though to have been added by Michelangelo (front centre) ..... worth following up.
 
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I must say that I was not overly impressed by the painting in Logroño but I don't understand much about art. I see that the summary in the Spanish Wikipedia article claims that

the artistic quality of the painting is very mediocre compared to other similar works of the same school [Michelangelo workshop] and points to poor workmanship. However, studies are still pending to determine the authorship of the painting conclusively. ​
​
I puzzled a while about the ES Wikipedia text that concerns the fact that the kneeling female figure was added later and was included in a forced manner, breaking the symmetry of the genitalia until it dawned on me that this was also the work of a presumably juvenile Wikipedia editor and that the unaltered text had said that the added kneeling figure disturbs the symmetry of the scene. Pity that nobody bothers to reverse this 'editorial' stupidity ...​

Here's some more interesting background: In 2011, a painting came to global attention that has a striking similarity to the Logroño painting and is now on display in a museum in Oxford:

A lost Michelangelo? Art scholar claims controversial find in Oxford

A respected Italian art scholar claims to have identified a previously unknown painting by Michelangelo at the University of Oxford.
www.independent.co.uk
An article on a La Rioja (Logroño) website, also from 2011, mentions José Manuel Ramírez, who has a background in art history and published a book in 1977 where he defended the Logroño painting as the one and only original by Michelangelo. There are at least two other people who claim that they themselves have the original Michelangelo painting with this theme in their possession. Preparatory studies (drawings) by Michelangelo are owned by the British Museum and the Louvre.

Otro enigma sobre Miguel Ángel | La Rioja

Un estudioso italiano atribuye a Buonarroti un 'Calvario' existente en Oxford considerado una copia El experto riojano José Manuel Ramírez sostiene desde hace décadas que el original y único documentado es el expuesto en La Redond
www.larioja.com
 
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Kathar1na said:
I must say that I was not overly impressed by the painting in Logroño but I don't understand much about art.
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Sometimes an artist's reputation becomes so strong that people just want to be near their work despite not being able to really see it in any detail. It strikes me as similar to the Hindu concept of 'darshan' or the veneration of relics. Think of the huge crowds who visit the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa: kept a long way from the crowds by crush barriers and several layers of perspex or glass in subdued light so that in practice all that is seen is a slightly murky postage-stamp sized blur in the distance. If you really want to see the painting then buy a postcard or Google for a high-res image online!
 
An article on a La Rioja (Logroño) website, also from 2011, mentions José Manuel Ramírez, who has a background in art history and published a book in 1977 where he defended the Logroño painting as the one and only original by Michelangelo
Click to expand...
José Manuel Ramírez maintains a website of his own and a YouTube video about the painting in Logroño where you can even see how to insert your coin for a better view :

The story surrounding this painting has been told a thousand times, some people tell what they have read or heard and give it their own personal touch, sometimes faithful to what they have learned and sometimes with their own personal touches. Hearing it from its main protagonist, José Manuel Ramírez Martínez, can make the difference between understanding the importance of its value or considering it as just another copy.​


Website:
 
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We love Logrono and try to always stop by the cathedral to view the Michelangelo as lovers of sacred art. But...let me honest...if it wasn't labeled a Michelangelo...I would likely overlook it as the work of a good but not great Mannerist painter, a style of painting popular at the time that I never found all that appealing. Nor do I find this small work, likely intended for the home of a wealthy patron, inspiring.

But beauty in art as in everything is in the mind of the beholder. If this painting inspires to walk the camino full of joy and spirituality, I bow to you.
 
I’m pleased that the world is in better shape than I thought as there are still people who can be a bit sniffy about whether they’ve just seen a ‘good’ Michelangelo or just a ‘mediocre’ one.

I’ve had a good dinner and I’ve somewhere warm to sleep. That’ll do.
 
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henrythedog said:
I’m pleased that the world is in better shape than I thought as there are still people who can be a bit sniffy about whether they’ve just seen a ‘good’ Michelangelo or just a ‘mediocre’ one.
Click to expand...

“I inherited a painting and a violin which turned out to be a Rembrandt and a Stradivarius. Unfortunately, Rembrandt made lousy violins and Stradivarius was a terrible painter.”​

― Tommy Cooper
 
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