MASTERPIECE

Musea Brugge has the drawing on long-term loan from the Jean van Caloen Foundation. This Foundation manages Loppem Castle and the art collection of Baron Jean van Caloen. The baron probably bought the paper around 1920-30. But Jean van Caloen probably never knew that he had a genuine Michelangelo in his home! In 1741, the drawing was sold in a lot with other drawings supposedly by Michelangelo from the estate of Pierre Crozat, an important French art collector. The lot then came into the possession of an engraver, Robert Hecquet, and shortly thereafter changed hands again. Subsequently, however, there is no trace of the drawing until the paper ends up in Jean van Caloen’s collection. From the 1990s, Van Caloen’s drawing collection was thoroughly studied, and the suspicions that it might be a Michelangelo were first shared with several specialists. They confirmed the attribution. Unfortunately, Jean van Caloen, who died in 1972, never lived to hear this wonderful news.