Researcher claims Roman basilica bust may be lost Michelangelo
A marble bust of Christ displayed for centuries in one of Rome’s oldest basilicas may have been sculpted by Michelangelo, according to a claim presented Wednesday that has sparked debate among Renaissance scholars.
Independent researcher Valentina Salerno announced her findings during a press conference at the Basilica of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura, located along Rome’s historic Via Nomentana. She argued that the sculpture depicting Christ the Savior was created by Michelangelo Buonarroti and that its attribution to the artist was lost in the early nineteenth century.
Italy’s Ministry of Culture, which currently lists the bust as an anonymous work from the sixteenth century Roman school, was invited to attend the presentation but declined.
Salerno said her research began about ten years ago while preparing to write a novel about Michelangelo. Unlike traditional art historical studies based on stylistic analysis, her work focuses on archival documentation. She examined notarial records, wills, posthumous inventories and documents from Roman religious confraternities connected to Michelangelo and his pupils.
She told journalists that although she does not hold a university degree or formal training in art history, her conclusions rely on public archival sources. According to Salerno, historical records in the centuries following Michelangelo’s death in 1564 attributed the sculpture to the artist until that link was questioned by a scholar in 1984.
Salerno also proposed a broader theory about Michelangelo’s later years. She argued that the artist did not destroy his works near the end of his life, as some historical accounts suggest, but instead developed methods to protect them. Her research describes a secure chamber that could only be opened with three keys held by different students.
She further suggested that the sculpture may have been modeled after Tommaso de’ Cavalieri, a close companion of Michelangelo.
The claim has drawn attention from specialists in Renaissance art but has not been confirmed. The debate follows the recent sale of a drawing of a foot attributed to Michelangelo at Christie’s for $27.2 million, although some experts have questioned whether the work is original.
Salerno published her research on Academia.edu, an online academic platform that does not require formal peer review.
William Wallace, a Michelangelo scholar at Washington University in St. Louis, told the Associated Press that Salerno’s archival research appears thorough and reflects a long European tradition of independent researchers producing valuable historical work. However, he questioned her broader conclusion that numerous undiscovered works by Michelangelo remain hidden.
Wallace noted that Michelangelo was heavily engaged in architectural projects during the final years of his life, overseeing as many as six major commissions, which left little time for producing new sculptures.
He encouraged Salerno to provide full transcriptions of the archival documents and submit them for academic peer review. Members of a Vatican scientific committee established in 2025 to mark the 550th anniversary of Michelangelo’s birth have either downplayed the claim or declined to comment.
Italy’s Carabinieri art protection unit also declined to assess the authenticity of the sculpture but confirmed that the bust is now protected by an alarm system.
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