An unfinished painting of the Virgin Mary and Christ owned by a former American pilot has been hailed as a lost masterpiece by Michelangelo, says an Italian art historian and restorer in a new book.Antonio Forcellino, who has worked on Michelangelo’s masterpieces, first came across the pieta, a 63cm x 48cm oil painting on a panel made of fir, when he was contacted by email by its owner, said a report in The Australian.
If confirmed, the work will rank alongside only three surviving panel paintings by the Italian master, potentially making it worth more than the record $118 million so far achieved for a work of art.
“The first time I saw it, I was so struck by the strength of it that I felt breathless,” said Mr Forcellino.
“Only a genius could have painted this - the darkness which underscores the suffering, the Virgin who looks as if she’s screaming and the figure of Christ after he has been deposed from the cross. It’s small, but the technique is extraordinary.
“It’s definitely by Michelangelo, and I was lucky to find documents that prove it. The X-rays that have been done are the key.
“They reveal his changes of mind; he moved the face of Christ, covered up grass to the left of the Virgin, and left an area next to her right leg unfinished. It couldn’t possibly be a copy by another artist.”
In a new book out in Italy, La Pieta Perduta (The Lost Pieta), which will be published in Britain next year, Mr Forcellino argues that the painting was created in 1545 by Michelangelo.
SIC: CTH/ASIA