Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel – Preparatory Drawings exhibition: 2 February to 3 April 2018 in Georgia

Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel – Preparatory Drawings is a small but interesting exhibition at the  Georgian National Museum’s gallery in Tbilisi, Georgia, from 2 February to 3 April 2018.

Presented in conjunction with the Embassy of Italy to Georgia, the exhibition showcases 6 works of Italian artist, sculptor, and architect, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) – the poet of the Renaissance epoch.

The artworks are preserved at the Casa Buonarroti museum, which, along with Michelangelo's other masterpieces, houses more than 200 preparatory drawings and manuscripts, images, sculptures and archeological collections possessed by various generations of the Buonarroti family.

Michelangelo, recognized as the greatest artist of all time, due to his masterful technique, drew the preparatory sketches from 1508-1510, during his work painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1508-1510).

Visitors can view the hand from the fresco "Creation of Adam" and figures from the fresco "The Fall of Man and the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden." The exposition also incorporates multimedia, as well as the screening of the film "Journey to Discover Michelangelo."

The exhibition is a consequence of close cooperation between various institutions such as the Ministry of Culture and Sport of Georgia; the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia; the Georgian National Tourism Administration; the ‘Check in Georgia’ government project; the JSC VTB Bank of Georgia; the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism; and the ‘VivereALLitaliana’ program. It is also implemented in cooperation with the Casa Buonarroti museum and cultural association ‘Metamorfosi.’

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).