Back to Calendar

Creature Feature: Fantastic Beings by Michelangelo

Five sketchy studies of figures and faces and two finished studies of grotesque figures fill a small sheet of paper.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian, Goldsmith’s Designs, Including Two Ideas for an Oil Lamp, 1521. Black chalk on beige antique laid paper. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Charles A. Loeser, 1932.152.

Gallery Talk

This event was recorded. Please view the talk here.

Creature Features, a new online series from the Harvard Art Museums, offers a chance for families with children ages 6 and up to explore magical creatures across the collections through close looking and curious exploration with museum staff.

Michelangelo was famous for his powerful sculptures and paintings of human figures, but he also had fun designing imaginary creatures. Join Joachim Homann and Margaret Grasselli to discover two sketches of strange, fanciful creatures that combine human and animal traits. These lively sketches were ideas for small lamps that were intended to be both functional and amusing, though they look nothing like ones we use today!

Led by:
Joachim Homann, Maida and George Abrams Curator of Drawings, Division of European and American Art
Margaret Morgan Grasselli, Visiting Senior Scholar for Drawings, Division of European and American Art, and Visiting Lecturer, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University

This online talk is free and open to all, but registration is required. To register, please complete this online form.

You will receive an email confirming your registration along with a Zoom link and password for the program. For instructions on how to join a meeting in Zoom, please click here.

Creature Feature talks are free, open to curious explorers of all ages, and offered once a month on Saturdays at 10am on Zoom. If you have any questions, please contact am_register@harvard.edu.

Please check our Harvard Art Museums from Home page for a full list of online programs and a rich array of digital content on offer while the museums are closed. Receive regular updates by subscribing to our newsletter, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.