Existing comment:
Collaboration: Marcello Venusti
This section frames the artistic relationship between Michelangelo and Marcello Venusti as one of professional friendship and collaboration, and probably a formal arrangement. A 1642 biography of Venusti confirms that he "befriended and took on service for Michelagnolo Buonarroti, the Florentine, who gave him many works to produce from his drawings." Too busy and uninterested in painting, Michelangelo relied on Venusti to produce small religious pictures based on his designs. As one of his closest protégés from 1546 until the master's death in 1564, Venusti replicated Michelangelo's religious compositions slavishly, and in great numbers; he subsequently gained a level of artistic autonomy and financial well-being. Michelangelo was godfather to Venusti's son, who was named after the master. |