Michelangelo’s model of River God returns to Florence

One of Michelangelo’s most fragile sculptures is back on public display after decades in storage and three years of painstaking restoration. “River God” will be exhibited on October 19 as the centerpiece of a new gallery at Florence’s Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Europe’s oldest art academy, which has owned the work since the 16th century.

Made between 1526 and 1527, this clay model is a life-size study of the marble river god located under the tomb of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino, in the church of San Lorenzo. Michelangelo was inspired by ancient sculptures of river gods and recreated the sloping male torso and bent legs. He made it by mixing unfired clay with casein, plant and animal fibers on a wire core. It has no head, arms or legs below the knee, as it is intended to serve as a reference model for customer approval before purchasing expensive marble to create the finished product. He never reached that stage, so this model is the only surviving example of Michelangelo’s vision.

It was donated to the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in 1583 by the sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati. Since 1965, the work has been housed at Casa Buonarroti. Three years ago, a complex restoration process began, overseen by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure and funded by the non-profit Friends of Florence.

The history of the River God is marked by centuries of attention and conservation intervention. Donated by Ammannati for educational purposes, it has been subject to more or less invasive restorations over time, such as the insertion of metal elements in the 18th century. Archival documents attest to the use of wooden and chestnut structures to facilitate its movement without compromising its integrity. After a period of forgetfulness, the work was rediscovered in the plaster room of the Academy of Fine Arts in 1906 and transferred to the Academy Gallery for preservation. In 1964, on the initiative of curator Charles de Tolnay, it was deposited at Casa Buonarroti to ensure better preservation conditions. In the 1980s, restorer Guglielmo Galli reported serious structural problems, including cracking and deformation, which were exacerbated by the presence of ancient gilding that altered its color and readability.

The complex technical difficulties of the restoration work led to long delays. The turning point came in 2015, when the exhibition “I Medici e le Arti a Firenze nel Secondo Cinquecento” at Palazzo Strozzi received a loan request, necessitating radical action. The restoration was carried out between 2015 and 2017 by Rosanna Moradei of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, with the support of the Friends of Florence and the direction of Giorgio Bonsanti and Laura Speranza. After anti-wormwood treatment, the internal structure and surfaces were reinforced in a targeted manner. Thanks to micro-suction and solvent gelling, the foil is removed and the surface is released, restoring the original materiality of the work without erasing the traces of time and modifications it has undergone. After the exhibition at the Strozzi Palace, the model was transferred to the exhibition grounds on the Strasse Michel in Orsan and remained protected until the new hall was completed.