View source for Epifania

{{Short description|Cartoon by Michelangelo}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image_file=Michelangelo Epifania.jpg
| title=Epifania
| artist=[[Michelangelo]]
| year=c. 1550–1553
| museum=[[British Museum]]
| city=[[London]]
| type=black chalk on paper
| height_metric=232 
| width_metric=165
| metric_unit=cm
| imperial_unit=in
}}
'''''Epifania''''' ({{langx|en|[[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]]}}) is a [[cartoon]] or full-scale drawing in black chalk by [[Michelangelo]], produced in Rome around 1550–1553. It is {{Convert|2.32|m}} tall by {{Convert|1.65|m|abbr=on}} wide, and is made up of 26 sheets of paper. The cartoon forms part of the collection of the [[British Museum]] in London.

==Subject matter==
The composition shows the [[Virgin Mary]], with the Christ child sitting between her legs. An adult male figure to the right, probably [[Saint Joseph]], is pushed away by Mary.  In front of him is the infant [[John the Baptist]]. The adult figure standing to Mary's left is unidentified, as are other figures only just visible in the background. Michelangelo repeatedly changed the composition and its forms, as is apparent in the cartoon's alterations.  The composition was originally thought to be of the [[Three Kings]], which may be the reason for the title, but is now understood as referring to Christ's siblings mentioned in the Gospels (explained by [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Saint Epiphanias]]—another possible source for the title—as Joseph's sons by a previous marriage, and hence Mary's stepsons, leaving their marriage unconsummated—hence her pushing Joseph away—and [[Perpetual virginity of Mary|Mary forever a virgin]]).

==History==
[[File:Ascanio condivi da un cartone di michelangelo, epifania, 01.JPG|thumb|left|''Epifania'' by Ascanio Condivi, [[Casa Buonarroti]], Florence]]
Michelangelo's biographer [[Ascanio Condivi]] used this cartoon for an unfinished painting. A 19th-century Scottish collector, John Malcolm of Poltalloch, bought the cartoon for only £11 0s 6d. and, on John's death in 1893, his son [[John Malcolm, 1st Baron Malcolm of Poltalloch|John Wingfield Malcolm]] gave it to the [[British Museum]].<ref>BM  PD 1895-9-15-518.</ref> Parliament voted £25,000 to purchase the rest of his collection for the museum two years later ({{Inflation|UK|25000|1895|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). The cartoon is on display in Gallery 90 of the Museum.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==See also==
*[[List of works by Michelangelo]]
*[[Michelangelo]]

==References==
*[http://www.florentine-society.ru/pdf/Peter_Barenboim_-_The_British_Museum_Madonna.pdf P. Barenboim (with Arthur Heath), ''Michelangelo’s Moment: The British Museum Madonna'' (LOOM, Moscow, 2018)]
*J.A. Gere and N. Turner, ''Drawings by Michelangelo in the British Museum'', exhibition catalogue (London, The British Museum Press, 1975)
*M. Hirst, ''Michelangelo and His Drawings'' (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1988)
*M. Royalton-Kisch, H. Chapman and S. Coppel, ''Old Master Drawings from the Museum'', exhibition catalogue (London, The British Museum Press, 1996)
*J. Wilde, ''Italian drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings'', 2 (London, The British Museum Press, 1953)

==External links==
*[https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1895-0915-518- The British Museum's online description of Michelangelo's cartoon]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHpbZ7HXP7Q Video of the British Museum's conservation of Epifania]

{{Michelangelo|more}}
{{British Museum}}

[[Category:Prints and drawings in the British Museum]]
[[Category:Drawings by Michelangelo]]
[[Category:1550s drawings]]