Michelangelo is known to have painted only four oil paintings and now one of them, recently verified, will be on display at the Kimbell Museum of Fort Worth, Texas.
The museum director is calling it “one of the greatest rediscoveries in the history of art.” The painting had previously been discredited by the art world and left in the hands of private collectors until last summer when an art dealer–whose sale price to the museum was not disclosed–brought the piece to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and had it examined.
Researchers were able to determine not only the authenticity, but almost the exact age of the painting. Apparently Michelangelo got his start as an art prodigy early, at age 12 or 13. Remember that parents: you may not always appreciate your child’s “creativity,” but someday it might be famous.