“Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a monument to a monument. With more than 200 works, and a core group of 133 drawings by the beyond-famous artist — the largest number ever assembled — on loan from some 50 front-rank collections, it’s a curatorial coup.
More important, it’s an art historical tour de force: a panoptic view of a titanic career as recorded in the most fragile of media — paper, chalk, and ink. It’s a show with demands: It requires that you be fully present. Snapping it with smartphones won’t do.
