The painting is part of the small catalog of the Florentine Enrico Fanfani, exponent of Italian historical romanticism with a biography not yet detailed, of which L'obolo della vedova (1852), Blind Milton who dictates Paradise Lost to his daughters (1857) and View of the Loggia dei Lanzi on April 27, 1859 (1860). As identified by Caterina Bon Valsassina, a painting depicting the meeting between Michelangelo and Julius II in Bologna is mentioned in the catalog of the collection of the Florentine plaster trainer Oronzio Lelli. It is difficult to say whether it is this work or the final version, which appeared on the US market in 2010 [1], of which the canvas of the Mantura collection constitutes a preparatory model. The date 1875 affixed by Fanfani on the final work appears in line with the stylistic evolution of the artist who, starting from the 1940s, had moved away from Tuscan purism to approach the experiments of the artists of the Caffè Michelangelo, as is evident from the scrub writing. of colors, from the construction of chiaroscuro in the faces through the use of white and in the strip of light that hits the floor. In the gallery of illustrious men dear to Italian historical romanticism, Michelangelo plays the role of individual genius, superior and detached from the dynamics of political power, in this case embodied by the extraordinary personality of Julius II. The power that pays homage to artistic talent was, on the other hand, a recurring theme in this cultural climate, just think of Francis I receives the last breath of Leonardo da Vinci (Paris, Petit Palais) by Ingres or to the very popular theme Carlo V collects the brush of Titian treated by various artists (Modesto Faustini, Domenico Pellegrini, Raimondo Zaballi). The sculptor, after having abandoned Rome en route to Pope Julius II, on 27 November 1506 had gone to Bologna, suggested in the painting by the towers that can be seen outside the window, to make peace with the pontiff, on the recommendation of the worried gonfalonier Pier Soderini. that the tension between the two could compromise relations between Florence and the Holy See. Giorgio Vasari narrates that Julius II welcomed Michelangelo exclaiming "In exchange for coming to see us, did you wait for us to come and visit you?" [2] in reference to the shorter distance between Florence and Bologna rather than between Florence and Rome. The source is, however, reread and revisited by Fanfani in a modern key, the artist, in fact, instead of kneeling, described by Vasari, remains standing in front of the pope who extends his arm imperiously, intimidating the bystanders, who bow their head out of respect.

Teresa Sacchi Lodispoto