- I don't trust this for one bit. For the owners there is quite the incentive to label this as the work of a genius. But in reality, this is just pretty complex for a 12 year-old to produce by yourself.
Edit: as others have pointed out, and if I were to actually read the article carefully before commenting, the composition is not attributed to Michelangelo. So it is just a copy. Quite the achievement, but possible for a twelve-year old.
I once confronted a gallery owner who was proudly presenting a newly discovered work by Mondriaan [1]. An original black and white photo in an old newspaper [2] was shown as proof of authenticity. But many details such as the creases in fabric differ in the original and the new painting. No OpenCV required to see that. Mind you, the picture is already framed with Mondriaan standing next to it. Unlikely that he's still working on it.
Instead of responding, the gallery owner simply turned away.
[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Cavalini...
[2] https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2022/03/02/nieuwe-werken-mondri...
by Nifty3929
2 subcomments
- If you just want to see the painting without all the ads:
https://cdn8.openculture.com/2026/01/14225354/1920px-Michela...
- Something about this painting is reminiscent of the way I(and I'm sure many others) would paint my comic-book heroes at around that age, albeit perhaps lacking some of Michelangelo's talents and skills.
This painting makes me feel like the bible was pretty much a comic book to the adolescent Michelangelo, and I like that thought. He later went on to paint the ceiling of a huge temple dedicated to his equivalent of Charles Xavier.
I bet that felt pretty cool for him =)
by al_borland
3 subcomments
- Surely this isn’t the first thing he ever painted, but rather the earliest known work that survived?
- Do they mean that he grabbed a paintbrush one day and painted this out of the blue? Or does "painting" here mean "specifically painted on a canvas" or whatever?
- This is just a summary of the the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Torment_of_Saint_Anthony
- It's mentioned in the article that this is a (really good!) painted version of The Torment of Saint Anthony, an engraving by Martin Schongauer.
Michelangelo would go on to find his first patron, a Cardinal named Raffaele Riario, by forging a sculpture and artificially aging it (which, back then, was a conventional practice to demonstrate expertise and skill: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-a-forged-sculpture...)
Dishonesty aside, both stories are reminders that there's a power to doing stuff with your own two hands (not genning it), as well as not to let today's emphasis on originality take away from using imitation/transcription to practice your craft: https://herbertlui.net/in-defense-of-copycats/
- What a crazy coincidence... I had not been to the Kimbell art musesum that is only about 20 minutes away from me in many years. We had a family outing this weekend to go see the Torlonia Collection exhibit there and this painting was just sitting there in their permanent collection! I even got to listen to the guided tour group that happened to be at that painting as I was walking by.
- This is my all time favorite motif!
St. Anthony is a fascinating figure. Father of wilderness monasticism, left Egypt to hear god, spent the night in a cave fighting the devil and won; the patron saint of psychedelics or at least Ergotism, the affliction of entire towns when the grain was infected with ergot fungus, which would later by synthesized into LSD.
I am actually in the process of curating a museum quality coffee table book in collaboration with Getty of at least 117 of the variations on this theme from Dali to Bosch to Michelangelo.
(1/17 is St. Anthony's day, and my birthday, and my name is Anthony - coincidentally).
Shoot me an email if you'd like to collaborate or would like an update when the project officially launches! a+st@175g.com
- Interesting if true. This painting seems like it's largely in the style of Northern Renaissance painters and has been considered to be the work of Martin Schongauer. Allegedly, he was initially trained as an engraver and made 100+ prints, so it is possible that the painting got misattributed due to the original print: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Sc...
by sebmellen
1 subcomments
- I've seen this painting a couple of times a week for the past few years, since I live within walking distance of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, where it's held. It's super tiny in person, but it's very cool to see it.
“Fort Worth” probably doesn't conjure to mind a very lively art scene, but in the museum district here we have the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum, the Kimbell Art Museum, and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, all within walking distance of each other. Each one is worth a visit.
by owenversteeg
2 subcomments
- Comments here are interesting. Of course it’s a copy, he was 12. For pretty much of all of human history, to make art you would first consume large amounts of it to develop taste and then make many copies to develop skill and style. The average modern-day artist (writer, painter, poet, etc) does this far less than ever before, to the point where we have forgotten that’s how learning works.
- If my 12-year-old painted that, I would call a priest for an exorcism.
- I don't want to compare anyone to Michelangelo, but the opening sentence of the aticle is more than flawed. My daughter got some painting classes in that age, and I saw work of some gifted kids. A bit better than "directionless doodles, chaotic comics, and a few unsteady-at-best school projects".
- Must be his earliest work we know, not the first painting he did, because this is too good.
by mythical_39
1 subcomments
- Wonder if we replace the demons with the various things which today try to capture our attention?
Or the massive chemical swings we self-induce, and how those might tear at (or help??) our soul?
by doctorhandshake
0 subcomment
- This visually resembles Falling Bough by Walton Ford
https://www.kasmingallery.com/artworks/4717-walton-ford-fall...
by BiraIgnacio
0 subcomment
- Related
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Agony_and_the_Ecstasy_(nov...
Great book!
by jihadjihad
0 subcomment
- The interesting thing in Michelangelo's case is that he viewed himself primarily as a sculptor. He was more or less forced against his will to paint the Sistine Chapel. And yet he was a master of the medium.
by debbiedowner
0 subcomment
- Checkout the movie "The Lost Leonardo" for a glimpse into the weird world of art attribution. tl;dw is that there are big financial incentives to attributing one way or another.
by iambateman
0 subcomment
- I’m enjoying the thought of seeing this in the state fair art gallery next to the other seventh grade art.
It’s wild that someone could be that good that young.
by ojciecczas
0 subcomment
- One thing is to invent such a picture, the other is to copy it almost 1:1 and add some touch, which was the case.
- Teenagers still love drawing demons and monsters so I suppose it fits!
- I'm inclined to agree with the commenter on the article.
by throwpoaster
0 subcomment
- Press X to Doubt.
- That picture was always freaky to me as a kid.
by taco_emoji
0 subcomment
- that's metal as hell
- [dead]
by oldpersonintx
0 subcomment
- [dead]
by futurist654
0 subcomment
- [flagged]
by agumonkey
1 subcomments
- well the man would have loved to have a chat with H.P. Lovecraft it seems
by worldsavior
8 subcomments
- Other than the drawing skill here, it's interesting why a kid thinks about demons attacking god. And why demons look like that for him.
- I wonder how many Michelangelos we'd have today if we didn't have electronic distraction devices and only had old school tech for "entertainment"
by LegitShady
2 subcomments
- Not his first painting. Nobody picks up a brush for the first time and paints like that. Not an original work either. Just a practice masterstudy, one of many many many he'd made up to that point I'm sure.
by officehero
4 subcomments
- I'm surprised at how few parents understand what it takes to create a great artist. You need to start when they're 5 (or preferably younger), put them in a workshop with great artists/pedagogues etc. (costly!) where they work full time (forget school), evaluate potential and there is a tiny chance they themselves will become great. Annoyed by parents talking about their 5 year olds as "too young" or when they recommend their teenager to 'pursue their dream' when they don't provide a fraction of above. It's still possible but odds go down dramatically.
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