A marble bust depicting Christ the Saviour, which has stood for centuries in a Roman basilica, has been re-attributed to Renaissance master Michelangelo after nearly 200 years of obscurity.
The sculpture, housed in the Basilica of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura on Rome’s ancient Via Nomentana, had been associated with Michelangelo until the early 19th century before its origins became unknown.
Italian independent researcher Valentina Salerno, a member of the Vatican committee celebrating the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo’s birth, is credited with the re-attribution.
Her extensive investigation relied on long-term archival work, drawing on notarial records, posthumous inventories, and indirect correspondence linked to Michelangelo’s final years in Rome, rather than solely stylistic analysis.
Franco Bergamin, from the Order of Lateran Canons Regular, expressed his surprise at the discovery, stating: “We have lived here since 1412, and the monumental complex of Sant’Agnese always holds surprises — this is one of them.”
“I am not an art historian — in fact, I don’t even have a university degree — but the strength of my research lies in its reliance on public archival documents,” she added, describing herself as something of an investigator.
The documents challenge the long-held narrative that Michelangelo, who lived until he was 88, systematically destroyed works late in life.
Instead, the sources suggest that drawings, studies, and some marble sculptures were carefully transferred within a trusted circle after the artist’s death.
Salerno said: “At Michelangelo’s death, every powerful ruler would have wanted to claim something of the master.
“But the artist carefully devised the transfer of the material in his possession so that his art could be passed on to his pupils and thus to future generations.
One document refers to a locked room, accessible only with multiple keys, that had been created to safeguard valuable materials. While the room itself was later emptied, its contents can be traced through subsequent transfers.
The research outlines a discreet network through which unattributed works were moved to religious institutions and secondary storage sites, where they remained embedded in functional settings rather than entering the art market.
The Sant’Agnese bust appears to be part of this process. Long integrated into the basilica’s liturgical space, the sculpture was preserved in a building shaped by centuries of renovations and additions.
The data that have emerged will form the basis of a broader attribution process aimed at progressively returning other forgotten works to Michelangelo’s hand and presenting the findings to the international scholarly community.
The gleaming white sculpture now stands on an altar in a side chapel of the basilica and is protected by an alarm system.
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