C1: Michelangelo’s “Secret Room” at San Lorenzo:
3D Reconstruction and Evaluation of Mural Authenticity
Presenter(s)
Haoyu Alan Yang
Faculty research mentor
William E. Wallace
Poster/exhibit session
1:00PM - 2:00PM: Poster session C
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Wallace for piquing my passion for Renaissance art, providing invaluable guidance, and kindly referring me for access to the “secret room.” I am also thankful to Francesca de Luca and Caterina Rossi at the Cappelle Medicee, Musei del Bargello, for their thoughtful arrangements during my visit. Lastly, I deeply appreciate Chen Chen for generously offering accommodations and transportation throughout my research in Italy.
Abstract or Description
My project combines digital work with archival research. The 3D reconstruction is designed to offer visual tools for future scholarship. The study of mural authenticity builds on the work of Paolo dal Poggetto, the director of the Cappelle Medicee during the 1975 discover, in his latest publication Michelangelo: la “stanza segreta”: i disegni murali nella Sagrestia nuova di San Lorenzo (2012). Once the 3D model is created, each mural drawing is annotated with pop-up text that includes a summary of Poggetto’s findings on the first page, followed by my personal interpretation on the second. Two primary criteria guided my analysis: identifying similar motifs in Michelangelo’s known drawings on paper and establishing thematic connections with his documented projects. Then, the attributions of the drawings on paper were cross-referenced among ten literature, with a summary table following Frederick Hartt’s methodology.
The table shows that, for the fourteen drawings referenced by Poggetto, consensus on authorship was reached for nine. Since the authenticity of the paper drawings cannot be fully guaranteed, the visual analysis must remain unambiguous. I diverge from some of Poggetto’s conclusions due to the nature of quick sketches and torso studies found in the “secret room,” which suggest many possible connections. My visual analysis primarily relied on Charles De Tolnay’s four-volume compilation of Michelangelo’s drawings, Corpus dei Disegni di Michelangelo (1975).
Finally, drawing from the conclusions of my studies, I created a colored map that divides the mural drawings into zones based on themes, subject matter, and known projects.