Michelangelo: The man, the brand, the mystery

By Cristina Burack/DW

From God reaching out to give Adam the spark of life on the sweeping Sistine chapel ceiling fresco to a grieving Mary holding the limp body of her son Jesus in her lap, the works of Michelangelo are iconic.

Less well-known by the general public are the details of the life of the high Renaissance artist, a man who scrupulously controlled his image as he rose to become the most renowned artist of his time, and arguably one of the most famous of all time.

To this day, his name still makes headlines. 

On Wednesday last week, two days before the 551st anniversary of Michelangelo’s birth, new claims about his death and his works emerged from an independent researcher. 

Valentina Salerno presented a theory that the master sculptor and painter had hidden his artworks in a secret room in the days before his death, leaving the keys to