Rome<\/a>\u2019s ancient Via Nomentana, had been associated with Michelangelo until the early 19th century before its origins became unknown.<\/p>\nItalian independent researcher Valentina Salerno, a member of the Vatican committee celebrating the 500th anniversary of Michelangelo\u2019s birth, is credited with the re-attribution. <\/p>\n
Her extensive investigation relied on long-term archival work, drawing on notarial records, posthumous inventories, and indirect correspondence linked to Michelangelo\u2019s final years in Rome, rather than solely stylistic analysis.<\/p>\n
Franco Bergamin, from the Order of Lateran Canons Regular, expressed his surprise at the discovery, stating: “We have lived here since 1412, and the monumental complex of Sant\u2019Agnese always holds surprises \u2014 this is one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not an art historian \u2014 in fact, I don\u2019t even have a university degree \u2014 but the strength of my research lies in its reliance on public archival documents,\u201d she added, describing herself as something of an investigator.<\/p>\n
![\"Researcher](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marble-bust-attributed-to-Michelangelo-after-decade-long-research-in-Rome-9y2b210j.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
open image in gallery<\/p>\n
Researcher Valentina Salerno poses for photos next to the bust she identified as a work by Michelangelo Buonarroti, following a decade of archival research (REUTERS)<\/p>\n
The documents challenge the long-held narrative that Michelangelo, who lived until he was 88, systematically destroyed works late in life. <\/p>\n
Instead, the sources suggest that drawings, studies, and some marble sculptures were carefully transferred within a trusted circle after the artist\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Salerno said: “At Michelangelo\u2019s death, every powerful ruler would have wanted to claim something of the master. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut the artist carefully devised the transfer of the material in his possession so that his art could be passed on to his pupils and thus to future generations.<\/p>\n
One document refers to a locked room, accessible only with multiple keys, that had been created to safeguard valuable materials. While the room itself was later emptied, its contents can be traced through subsequent transfers.<\/p>\n
![\"Marble](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Marble-bust-attributed-to-Michelangelo-after-decade-long-research-in-Rome-b10eu91l.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
open image in gallery<\/p>\n
Marble bust attributed to Michelangelo after decade-long research in Rome (Reuters)<\/p>\n
The research outlines a discreet network through which unattributed works were moved to religious institutions and secondary storage sites, where they remained embedded in functional settings rather than entering the art market.<\/p>\n
The Sant\u2019Agnese bust appears to be part of this process. Long integrated into the basilica\u2019s liturgical space, the sculpture was preserved in a building shaped by centuries of renovations and additions.<\/p>\n
The data that have emerged will form the basis of a broader attribution process aimed at progressively returning other forgotten works to Michelangelo\u2019s hand and presenting the findings to the international scholarly community.<\/p>\n
The gleaming white sculpture now stands on an altar in a side chapel of the basilica and is protected by an alarm system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-465445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}