There Are Two Risen Christs by Michelangelo

There are two Risen Christs by Michelangelo. The better known statue stands to the left of the high altar of the Roman church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. The frenzied churchmen of the Baroque age fitted this sculpture with a hideous bronze loincloth, so as not to be embarrassed by the sight of a wholly naked Christ. The lesser known one, completed in the early seventeenth century, is in the sacristy of the church of San Vincenzo Martire in the town of Viterbo. For hundreds of years it stood there anonymously, and thanks to this it was not carted off by its previous owners after the sale of the monastery on whose grounds it stands, was not stolen by Napoleon, was not stolen during the Second World War, and survived to our own day, until in the 2000s the art historian Irene Baldriga proved that this was the very first version of Michelangelo's Christ, which he did not go on to finish after discovering a black vein in the marble. Incidentally, this statue too was once covered with a bronze drape, which was later removed