Ein Konkurrenz-Projekt Michelangelos zu Raffaels "Transfiguration"?

The dating and interpretation of a whole group of eight Michelangelo drawings remains disputed. The groups of three male figures shown on these sheets are interpreted here as sketches for a Transfiguration of Christ and dated close in time to Michelangelo’s early sketches for Sebastiano del Piombo (Cappella Borgherini). There was a long wait for Raffael’s counterpart to Michelangelo’s project reconstructed here, the Transfiguration of Christ (Vatican Museum). Michelangelo’s sketches can be seen as an attempt to win the commission – not yet delivered by Raffael – for himself on behalf of his protegé Sebastiano. A detailed analysis by Mauro Mussolin, Leonardo Pili and the author of the paper on which the six sketches in Casa Buonarroti (Florence) were made allows to firmly reconstruct the central scene and to develop a proposal for the distribution of the other sketches on the original sheet (now cut into fragments).