“It’s a small Last Judgement with Christ the Judge and the other figures of the celebrated fresco that one can admire in the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo Buonarroti in oil on canvas, the only example of the master using this technique,” said Olivares.
Olivares did the research with another art historian, Monsignor José Manuel del Rio Carrasco.
He believes that Michelangelo gave the Geneva Last Judgement, traces of which were lost for over 100 years, to the artist Alessandro Allori, who used it as a model for his work in Florence’s Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata.
He said the work, which is 96.52cm x 81.28 cm and is in excellent condition, features several of the aspects of the Sistine Chapel fresco, such as the “audacious” depiction of Christ without a beard.
It has changed hands many times over the centuries and was restored in 2015 by Antonio Casciani.
Olivares gave ANSA a sneak preview of his findings before presenting them at the Foreign Press Association in Rome.
ANSA
