Why did Michelangelo leave 'The Entombment' unfinished? | National Gallery

Some of you might be wondering why we have an unfinished artwork hanging on the wall here at the National Gallery. In fact, we have several unfinished works in our collection, and not just one, but two works by the famous Renaissance artist Michelangelo hang side by side on our walls. Unfinished works of art have fascinated audiences for thousands of years. Even the first century ancient Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder remarked that the last works of artists and their unfinished pictures are more admired than those which they finish, because in them are seen the preliminary drawings left visible and the artist's actual thoughts. Let's take a closer look at the Entombment to investigate further. So in its unfinished state, the details from the painting help to guide our eye around the artwork, from the unfinished belt around a figure's waist to a hand pointing upwards. These lighter sections are spaced around the image in such a way that they act as markers for our eyes, unintentionally helping us to take in more of the work and its narrative. Describing events after Christ's crucifixion, where his body is being carried down and placed in a tomb behind, Christ's body dominates the painting in its vertical position, but we can imagine in another moment it will be carried up backwards, head first, and up the steps to a tomb. This section of the painting is nearly finished, however in its late stage Michelangelo still leaves out the wounds on Christ's hands, feet, and side. Due to the unfinished nature of this work, there is some disagreement over the identity of the figures in the painting. To the left of Christ we see a man wearing red with brown flowing hair, this can most likely be identified as Saint John the Evangelist. The figure who is behind Christ can either be identified as Joseph of Armathea, who donated his own burial place for Christ, or Nicodemus, who helped lower Christ's body from the cross. The women in the painting can possibly be identified as the three Marys, Mary Cleoplas, Mary Magdalene, and Mary Solomon. The space that we see on the bottom right can be identified possibly as a kneeling Virgin Mary. But why was this picture left unfinished? What's its history? Well this painting is one of only three surviving panel paintings by Michelangelo and it's his largest to date. Based on payment records, it was probably made for a funerary chapel in the church of San Agostino in Rome. It was commissioned in 1500 and left unfinished when Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1501, likely to start working on his project the David. The figure of the Virgin Mary would have made up this empty space at the bottom of this picture, likely because Michelangelo was waiting for it and going to use the ultramarine blue to paint her cloak. The pigment was made from lapis lazuli, which was the only source from Afghanistan. So ultramarine was very costly and difficult to acquire and often was used sparingly and later in the painting process. St. John and his canonical red also stands out more because the originally green glaze on the other bearer has faded from green to brown with time as the pigment deteriorated. So this painting actually looks much more muted and unfinished than it would have even in Michelangelo's own time when he was first working on it. So how would Michelangelo or other artists feel about seeing their unfinished work on display in a gallery? Well we can never really know how an artist would have felt about their work, but we can look towards primary sources and writing from the time. Artists like da Vinci may have enjoyed his works being on display. He famously said, art is never finished, only abandoned, and many of his projects also remain unfinished, including works like our Burlington House cartoon. So I imagine he might have enjoyed that we could see his mind at work. But Michelangelo was documented as being a bit more touchy about this subject. Michelangelo was certainly known, even in his own time, for his numerous unfinished projects, with nearly three-fifths of his known works remaining unfinished at the time of his death. Michelangelo famously burned much of his studio work and projects and was very secretive about his artistic process. He even sanctioned or authorized a biography of his life written by Ascanio Candivia in 1553. This biography was in response to the artist and arguably first art historian Giorgio Vasari's version of Michelangelo's biography that he wrote as part of his book, The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Vasari is notably generous and fawning towards Michelangelo, but even he remarks on Michelangelo's unfinished projects, namely Michelangelo's unfinished tomb project for Pope Julius II that went through many iterations over a 40-year period. While this project did lead to extraordinary unfinished works, such as the sculptures known as the Florentine Prisoners, Michelangelo was displeased by this portrayal and Candivia actively wrote his version to correct the proclaimed tragedy of the tomb that was documented by Vasari. So Michelangelo likely would not have been pleased to have his work that was unresolved from early in his career on display, even though audiences of the time, including Vasari and Raphael, would have clamored at any chance to get insight into Michelangelo's very guarded process. But speaking of this very guarded process, do you mind speaking a little bit more about how the entombment reveals parts of Michelangelo's process? So preparations in designing a painted narrative of this scale would have been extensive, including making lots of preparatory drawings for the different figures. Michelangelo is known for making sketches from dissection, life, as well as sculptures. Two drawings for this painting survive today, both are in the Louvre, including a sketch for Mary Magdalene that can be seen gazing down sorrowfully at a crown of thorns and nails using the crucifixion. The other drawing is a rejected idea for Saint John the Evangelist. The piece really highlights Michelangelo's interest in human anatomy, particularly the body in motion, from the way we see twisted torsos, the shoulders shifted to one side, and the way a figure's weight is put back. We can observe how the artist painted each figure in full before moving on to the next. This technique is usually seen in egg tempera, fresco painting, but this painting is in oil, so it makes it much more unusual in the process that he's using. The artwork really reflects Michelangelo's idea that painting is best when closest to sculpture. It's as if this picture is a high relief sculpture transposed into paint, with the figures being arranged in a bold rhythmic design with little space in between them. I particularly enjoy the details of the arms being interlocked together, and then that beautiful detail at the bottom where we see Saint John the Evangelist, Christ's foot, meeting and entwined in one single form together. If we look to a detail at the back of the painting, we can see a white silhouette of the tomb, which is created by scraping away the wet brown paint of the rocks behind. This is a technique of a sculptor used to chipping away material and not adding it. So why are we so drawn to it being unfinished? Well, unfinished artworks allow for us to have insight into the creative process that we don't often have the chance to see, especially for historical works and artists where their stories, their process, and drawings are lost to time. I love that we have this Michelangelo on the wall at the National Gallery, amongst other unfinished pictures, because unfinished works can make art seem more accessible. They can help break down and demystify each step of the artist's process for viewers. We can imagine the artist making the work as their choices are more apparently laid bare. Like in this picture, we can see how Michelangelo methodically worked through each figure at a time, similar to the process of making a fresco, as you mentioned back then. And I would argue that unfinished works are marvelous, even if they aren't considered a finished masterpiece. They are significant instead because unfinished works crucially reveal the artistic master behind the piece. Unfinished artworks humanize these often larger-than-life artists by providing a window into the mind of the artist, while including us in the process. If you're interested in learning more about art history, click here or here, and subscribe to our channel. Thank you for watching and we'll see you soon.