{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O151996"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O151996/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HE0533/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2014HE0533/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2014HE0533","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HE0534","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HE0535","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HE0536","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HE0537","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016HY9830","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016HY9782","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016HY9786","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LY9653","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O151996/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O151996","accessionNumber":"4104-1854","objectType":"Model","titles":[{"title":"Michelangelo's Hand","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"This terracotta model of a hand, known as 'Michelangelo's Hand' because it was formerly ascribed to him.\r\n\r\nThe date when a clay model was fired can often be established by measuring the radiation in a sample of the terracotta by a method called thermo-luminescence (or TL) testing. The TL test carried out on this hand showed that it was made in the 16th century, probably about 1580. A similar model of a hand was recorded in a room near the Cappella dei Principi in San Lorenzo, Florence, where Michelangelo carved the marble figures, but it had disappeared by 1813. It is possible that this is the same model.\r\n\r\nThe hand is cut off above the wrist.\r\nThe fingers hold a piece of drapery or indeterminate object, the lower surface of which has been flattened to provide a base.","physicalDescription":"Red surface. The model of the hand is cut off above the wrist. The fingers hold a piece of drapery or indeterminate object, the lower surface of which has been flattened to provide a base.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Terracotta","id":"AAT10669"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2014HE0533","2014HE0534","2014HE0535","2014HE0536","2014HE0537","2016HY9830","2016HY9782","2016HY9786","2019LY9653"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SHLN","id":"THES49063"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Model of a hand","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"probably ca. 1580","earliest":"1575-01-01","latest":"1584-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"24.77","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Acquired in Florence (Gherardini Collection)","historicalContext":"The date when a clay model was fired can often be established by measuring the radiation in a sample of the terracotta by a method called thermo-luminescence (or TL) testing. The TL test carried out on this hand showed that it was made in the 16th century, probably about 1580. A similar model of a hand was recorded in a room near the Cappella dei Principi in San Lorenzo, Florence, where Michelangelo carved the marble figures, but it had disappeared by 1813. It is possible that this is the same model.","briefDescription":"Model of a left hand, known as Michelangelo's Hand, terracotta, Italy, 16th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pope-Hennessy, John. <u>Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Volume II: Text. Sixteenth to Twentieth Century</u>. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1964, p. 433."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1854. <u>In</u>: <u>Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I</u>. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 17."},{"reference":{"text":"Pingeot, Anne (ed.), <i>Le Corps en Morceaux</i>, Paris : Ministère de la culture, de la communication, des grands travaux et du bicentenaire : Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1990.","id":"AUTH357905"},"details":" pl 154, cat. no. 93","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Maclagan, Eric and Longhurst, Margaret H. <u>Catalogue of Italian Sculpture. Text</u>. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1932, p. 133."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Satzinger, Georg and Schütze, Sebastian, <u>Der Göttliche. Hommage an Michelangelo,</u> Bonn: Bundeskunsthalle, 2015, exh. cat., pp. 114-115, fig. 13\r\n"}],"production":"This hand is closely related to a well-known and long-celebrated drawing of a hand in the Louvre (Berenson, 1740) now generally considered as a deliberate imitation of Michael Angelo by Bartolommeo Passerotti. The present hand is tentatively identified by Steinmann (\"La Mano di Michelangelo\", in <u>Studien aus Kunst und Geschichte Friedrich Schneider zum siebzigsten Geburtstage gewidmet</u>, Freiburg, 1906, pp. 79-81) with the hand described by Gaburri, and is ascribed by him, on insufficient grounds, to Tribolo. The attribution of the terracotta to Michelangelo is rejected by Thode (<u>Michelangelo</u>, vi, Berlin, 1913, p. 283, No. 4101), who compares it with the supposed model for the right hand of the Moses formerly in the Hähnel collection (A.8-1938, No. 450, q.v.). Frey (<u>Michelagniolo Buonarroti</u>, i, Berlin, 1907, p. 245 n., ii, p. 22, No. 12 and n.) regards the hand as \"ein spätes Machwerk...vielleicht zur Übung angefertigt, vielleicht auch eine Fälschung; wie ich glaube nach Passerottis Studien\".","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"hand, a","id":"x35352"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"The date when a clay model was fired can often be established by measuring the radiation in a sample of the terracotta by a method called thermo-luminescence (or TL) testing. The TL test carried out on this hand showed that it was made in the 16th century, probably about 1580. A similar model of a hand was recorded in a room near the Cappella dei Principi in San Lorenzo, Florence, where Michelangelo carved the marble figures, but it had disappeared by 1813. It is possible that this is the same model.","date":{"text":"Nov 2000","earliest":"2000-11-01","latest":"2000-11-30"}}],"partNumbers":["4104-1854"],"accessionNumberNum":"4104","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1854,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2026PN1873","2026PN1870","2022NH1003"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-30","recordCreationDate":"2008-04-03","availableToBook":false}}