The Man Who Broke Michelangelo's Nose

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2022

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

Pietro Torrigiano is credited with introducing Renaissance art to England in the early years of the 16th century and designed the tomb of Henry VII, but he is best remembered for breaking the nose of Michelangelo in a fight. Torrigiano's tumultuous life took him from Florence to Rome, through Mechelen and London, to Seville, where he finally died in an Inquisition jail.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Professor Felipe Pereda about this arrogant, proud, but nonetheless important, artist.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	If you study portraits of Michelangelo, you might notice that his nose looks slightly
0:08.8	mischapen.
0:10.1	The story goes that in Florence, sometime before 1492, when Michelangelo was not yet 20,
0:17.2	a young man called Petro Torrijano punched Michelangelo Buenorotti in the face.
0:24.4	Getting his nose so hard that I felt its bone and cartilage yield, and so the mark I then
0:30.3	gave him he will carry to the grave.
0:32.8	It must have been quite a sight to behold the tall Torrijano launch himself at the
0:38.3	skinny Michelangelo.
0:40.4	How did this surly violent teenager rise to such eminence as an artist that he was commissioned
0:48.2	by royalty, creating work such as the portrait bust of Henry VII, and Henry's tomb with
0:54.4	his wife Elizabeth the V York?
0:56.7	How did Torrijano help to usher the Renaissance into England?
1:01.1	And how did he later fall so low as to be imprisoned in a Spanish jail where he met his end?
1:08.7	To learn about Torrijano, I'm joined today by Harvard University Professor Felipe Pereira.
1:16.5	Professor Pereira is an art historian specialising in late medieval and early modern art, art
1:21.8	theory, image theory and the history of architecture.
1:25.0	He's published extensively, including the 2018 Crime and Illusion, the Art of Truth in the
1:31.4	Spanish Golden Age.
1:33.8	Later this year, the man who broke Michelangelo's nose will be published by Penn State University
1:40.2	Press.
1:41.2	The first book ever written about this very colourful artist.
1:52.8	Professor Pereira, thank you so much for joining me on not just the tutors.
	...

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