Michelangelo and Nicodemism : the Florentine Pietà

Author

Shrimplin-Evangelidis, Valerie

Document type

Article (journal)

Language

English

Source

Art bulletin. 1989, Num. 1, Vol. 71, p. 58-66, 2 ill.

ISSN

0004-3079

Abstract (en)

A new interpretation of Michelangelo's Florentine Pietà (S. Maria del Fiore, Florence) argues that in the artist's identification with the figure of Nicodemus through the self-portrait he imposed, Michelangelo was representing himself as a Nicodemist. The Nicodemists, active in Italy in the 1540's and early 1550's, showed interest in some of the ideas of the Protestant reformers but sought to act within the existing Catholic order, thus preventing schism in the Church. The hypothesis presented here reinforces the existing evidence of Michelangelo's involvement with the Catholic Evangelist Reform movement in Italy. It also provides an alternative explanation for Michelangelo's attempted destruction of the sculpture in 1555.

Subject (en)

• General history of art -- 1400-1800 -- Sculpture -- Italy
• Pietà
• S. Maria del Fiore (cathedral)||Firenze (ITA)
• Nicodemus
• Sculpture
• 1500-1600
• Nicodemism
• Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564
• Italy
• Christian iconography
• Iconography

Subject (fr)

• Histoire générale de l'art -- 1400-1800 -- Sculpture -- Italie
• Pietà
• S. Maria del Fiore (cathédrale)||Firenze (ITA)
• Nicodème
• Sculpture
• 1500-1600
• Nicodémisme
• Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564
• Italie
• Iconographie chrétienne
• Iconographie

Origin

DatabaseBHA (Inist-CNRS/GRI)

Identifier19910101-00446353

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