Michelangelo Drawings

A recent exhibition in London, Michelangelo Drawings: Closer to the Master, enjoyed the largest advance sale the British Museum had ever known. For a mere 90 drawings—hard to see, unless one got quite close, which was not easy to do in the crowds—the venerable museum attracted more than 150,000 visitors in six months. To prevent the jostling from bursting all bounds, entry was limited; but so great was the demand that, for the first time in its 250-year history, the museum remained open until midnight on Saturdays.

The critics were rapturous. “Nothing short of a religious experience,” intoned the often curmudgeonly Brian Sewell in the Evening Standard. “It will take your breath away again and again,” said a writer in the Sunday Times, while other papers offered encomia like “unmissable,” “astonishing,” “absolutely magic,” “truly staggering.” Much as he liked to be praised, even the gruff Renaissance artist himself might have been taken aback.

Theodore K. Rabb, writing in Commentary - the greatest magazine in the world - on why Michelangelo matters.