The National Gallery has announced that Michelangelo’s Taddei Tondo will be on display as part of The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Michelangelo & Sebastiano ,which opens at the gallery from the 15th March.
The National Gallery has confirmed that the only Michelangelo sculpture in Britain The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John, also known as the Taddei Tondo will be on display as part of The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Michelangelo & Sebastiano.
Speaking of the news, Dr Gabriele Finaldi, Director of the National Gallery said: “We are very excited to present Michelangelo’s unfinished masterpiece in the National Gallery’s exhibition. Dynamic and delicate, the Taddei Tondo is one of the most important Renaissance works of art in Britain.”
The piece has been a part of the Royal Academy’s collection since it was bequeathed by Sir George Beaumont, entering the collection in 1829. It has only been lent once previously, over fifty years ago to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Christopher Le Brun, President of the Royal Academy of Arts, said: “The Taddei Tondo is one of the most significant treasures in the Royal Academy’s collection. We are delighted to be working with the National Gallery on this major loan to their exhibition, which will provide new and fresh ways of looking at this remarkable sculpture as well as introducing it to wider audiences, before it returns to the RA to be redisplayed as part of our 250th anniversary in 2018.”
The sculpture is one of several unfinished works of sculpture by Michelangelo that have sparked numerous debates over the centuries.
Matthias Wivel, curator of the upcoming exhibition a the National Gallery said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be able to show this masterpiece as part of the exhibition. It demonstrates beautifully Michelangelo’s mastery of carving, and the emotional and spiritual clarity of his work.”
The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Michelangelo & Sebastiano will be on display at the National Gallery from the 15th March until the 25th June. For more information and to book tickets visit: http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/the-credit-suisse-exhibition-michelangelo-sebastiano.