L'importuno di Michelangelo - Michelangelo’s Missed Piece

 by Natalie Moras

During a short visit to Florence, my attention was brought to a certain, subtle image. In the facade of Palazzo Vecchio, there is a peculiar carving of a head. The exact origin of this image is unknown, and therefore there is speculation as to where it comes from. One of which is that this is actually the work of famed artist, Michelangelo.

L'importuno di Michelangelo directly translates to The Nuisance by Michelangelo. It is rumoured that this man, who sculpted the David of a single block of marble, may have made one of his works in the stone of a plaza.

According to the rumours, one day when Michelangelo was passing through the plaza, he was stopped by a man who would often irritate him with useless and boring chatter. Michelangelo was known to have an antisocial disposition. Hence, when the artist was persistently irked by the man, he decided to take out his chisel and mallet and held them behind his back. Then he began to engrave an impression of the man into the wall behind him and it has remained there ever since.

This story is considered a complete myth to the everyday Florentine, however some art historians have recently attributed this work to Michelangelo. This is due to an uncanny resemblance to a drawing by Michelangelo, as displayed in the Louvre.

In the drawing, a man’s distinctive profile is tucked in with renditions of a male nude and of the Virgin Mary nursing Christ with Saint Anne. The strikingly similar features of both images are the man’s strong Adam’s apple, full lips, prominent nose and brow, and curly hair. The The drawing itself dates to the early 16th century, around the time the artist was commissioned to create his iconic sculpture of David, which, in 1504, would be placed adjacent to the entrance of the city’s town hall, or Palazzo Vecchio - wherein L'importuno di Michelangelo looks out toward the spot where the large sculpture would have stood at the time.

It is argued that the carving is unlikely to be the work of vandals. The plaza would have been under the surveillance of guards, so only someone with official standing, like the artist, may have been permitted to do such an act. Furthermore, the character of the stone establishes its difficulty to carve, so it would require expertise, like that of Michelangelo, to achieve the naturalistic image. 

Regarding the drawing in the Louvre, a short length is written next to the head, seemingly foreshadowing the carving being ambiguous as to whether or not it was by Michelangelo himself: “Chi dire mai chella f[osse] di mia mano” or, “Who would ever say that it was by my hand?”