Material Neoplatonism: Michelangelo’s architectural folios after the Codex Coner, 1515-1518

The study challenges the claim that Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) conceptually isolated Ancient Roman architectural forms, reinventing them in the intangible realm of abstract ideation. I maintain that the artist innovated by heeding the concrete rather than the abstract. Through a material study of Michelangelo’s sketches after the Codex Coner (1515-1518), I demonstrate how the laid-paper’s topography facilitated the artist’s manipulation of the Ancient Roman architectural fragments and thus enabled the presumed design defiance of historical precedent and the canon. I disclose the manner in which the paper’s “laid-” and “chain-lines” acted as guidelines for Michelangelo’s architectural experimentations—a thus far unnoticed technique. I designate my research method as “material formalism.” Material formalism frames artifacts as active protagonists in historical arguments. The method aligns with Benjamin’s thesis in that it struggles to “arrest” and “crystallize” historical objects while exploring history against the grain. Finally, the study displaces Michelangelo’s historiographical role and image as “the universal genius—expert of conceptual abstraction,” portraying him as a design and craft practitioner who uncovered ideas in material textures, affordances, and contingencies.