![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4K8AR4W_AFP__20210201__8ZY6XY__v5__HighRes__TopshotVaticanHealthVirusMuseumCultureHeritageTo_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nBy Ella Ide, AFP<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThe famous frescoes of the Sistine Chapel form the backdrop of the conclave. Seen here on 1 February 2021.
\nPhoto: Andreas Solaro \/ AFP\n<\/p>\n
Renaissance artist Michelangelo ordered many of his artworks to be hidden by his pupils in a secret room to protect them for posterity, an Italian researcher has claimed Wednesday (local time).<\/p>\n
According to renowned art historian Giorgio Vasari, the Italian genius burned a large number of his own drawings and sketches before his death in Rome in 1564.<\/p>\n
But researcher Valentina Salerno says she has unearthed unpublished archival documents that reveal a plot to squirrel away his works.<\/p>\n
“One of these three unpublished documents I found in the archives speaks of a room” kept by students of the Michelangelo school, the origins of which “can be traced back” to the artist, Salerno told AFP on the sidelines of a press conference in Rome.<\/p>\n
“Assets are hidden inside this room. These assets are locked away so tightly that they require a system of multiple keys, so that no one can access them without the permission of others,” she said.<\/p>\n
Salerno was researching a book on Michelangelo when she came across a document that showed the artist had in 1550 joined the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Crucifix. Those close to him in his final years were members too.<\/p>\n
Over a decade of research, she followed the document trail between a series of archives in the Vatican, Italy and European cities including Paris.<\/p>\n
As part of what she called a “maniacal plan” cooked up by Michelangelo, his works were to be hidden “because otherwise it would all end up with a nephew he detested”.<\/p>\n
“The goal was to pass on to his poor, vulnerable, non-noble descendants the material to be able to continue studying, to transmit his art to future generations,” she said.<\/p>\n
Those involved in the plan went on to form the famous art Academy of San Luca in the 16th century, she added. It still exists today.<\/p>\n
Salerno believes the secret room designed to safeguard the artist’s creations was likely somewhere inside the Saint Peter in Chains church in central Rome.<\/p>\n
Michelangelo bust<\/p>\n
During her research, she also stumbled across a reference to a bust at the Basilica of Sant’Agnese, also in Rome, currently attributed to an anonymous artist.<\/p>\n
She found documents attributing the white bust of Christ the Saviour to Michelangelo down the centuries.<\/p>\n
In the 1930s it appears to disappear from documentation, only to reappear in the 1980s, attributed to a minor artist.<\/p>\n
Italy’s cultural authorities later declared it to be a work by an unknown sculptor instead.<\/p>\n
But Salerno insists the bust is a genuine Michelangelo, not just due to the paper trail, but also because it shares a striking resemblance to Tommaso dei Cavalieri.<\/p>\n
Cavalieri was a young nobleman with whom Michelangelo became infatuated in his 50s.<\/p>\n
Salerno’s work has not yet been peer reviewed, but she was a member of the Vatican committee for the celebrations marking the 550th anniversary of Michelangelo’s birth.<\/p>\n
-AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ella Ide, AFP The famous frescoes of the Sistine Chapel form the backdrop of the conclave. Seen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,48,47,501,156,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-318327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-audio","13":"tag-current-affairs","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newzealand","19":"tag-nz","20":"tag-podcasts","21":"tag-public-radio","22":"tag-radio-new-zealand","23":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}