[mcgannon2007]

It isn't an original work, but actually a painted version of a famous engraving by Martin Schongauer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Temptation_of_St_Anthony_(...

[basch]

I am by no means an expert art historian but I'm not sure I 100% follow the logic of their conclusion.

"pentimenti, or correction marks, a common indication that “a painting is not a copy, but an original work created with artistic freedom.”"

How often are they analyzing copies made by 12 year old. Is a 12 year old more likely to have made errors or drifted from the source during the process of the copy? Could the corrections be attempts to bring the painting closer to its source, because it wasnt close enough?

[tlb]

If you're copying from another painting, you don't paint a figure and then decide to move it a centimeter to the left. But original paintings often have such changes.

[BeaverGoose]

The engraving is much better too. Shame we don't appreciate Schongauer as much as Michelangelo.

[MontyCarloHall]

Of course it's much better, Schongauer was ~25 when he did the engraving. Michelangelo was 12 when he copied it. Likewise, it goes without saying that Haydn's symphonies circa 1765 were much better than Mozart's from the same time, since Haydn was ~30 years old and Mozart was ~10 years old.

The remarkable thing about the early painting/symphonies isn't the absolute quality of the work, it's that they showcase the artists' intrinsic baseline talents, which they would then leverage as their skills improved with maturity to become some of the greatest artists of all time.

[dointheatl]

You know this isn't the only thing Michelangelo painted, right?

[maxbaines]

Thankyou