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Submitted by Telfair Museums
July 9, 2026 – Telfair Museums will present Michelangelo’s Women: Images of Female Power and Divinity from the Casa Buonarroti, on view Oct. 9, 2026, through Jan. 24, 2027, at the Jepson Center, 207 W. York St., Savannah. This groundbreaking exhibition is the first to focus exclusively on the women who inspired, appeared in and helped preserve the legacy of one of history’s greatest artists.
Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect and renowned poet Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) loved women, not as objects of physical desire but as fully realized, powerful, heroic figures, equal to and sometimes superior to men. Women appear everywhere in his work, from the Sistine Chapel to his famous Pietà, the marble sculpture of Mary cradling the body of Jesus after he has been removed from the cross. Curiously, no book or exhibition has ever been devoted exclusively to Michelangelo’s women. Casual observers usually dismiss them as overly muscular and long-limbed. This exhibition argues, however, that there were many reasons that Michelangelo imagined these women as superheroes.
Drawn from the historic collections of the artist’s own family, Michelangelo’s Women will use his drawings, poetry and letters, some never before seen in the United States, to encourage visitors to think about the ways that Michelangelo looked at women and what women saw in his works. It will also introduce visitors to patron and muse Vittoria Colonna (1492–1547) and preservationist Rosina Vendramin (1814–1856), women who supported Michelangelo and maintained his legacy. Reproductions of the Sistine Chapel ceiling and his fresco, Last Judgment, will allow visitors to have new, close studies of the women the artist included in his most famous works.
“This exhibition invites audiences to look beyond familiar masterpieces and discover an entirely new way of understanding Michelangelo’s work,” said Elyse Gerstenecker, PhD, Telfair Museums Director of Curatorial Affairs & Curator of Decorative Arts. “By placing women at the center of the story, visitors will gain fresh insight into Michelangelo’s artistic vision, the remarkable women who influenced his life and legacy, and the enduring relevance of these powerful figures more than 500 years later.”
The exhibition is organized by Telfair Museums and the Casa Buonarroti Firenze and curated by guest curator Dr. Gary Radke, a leading scholar of Renaissance art.
For museum hours, admission information and tickets, visit Telfair.org.
About Telfair Museums
Opening in 1886, Telfair Museums is the oldest public art museum in the South and the first U.S.museum founded by a woman. The museum features a world-class art collection in the heart of Savannah’s National Historic Landmark District and encompasses three sites: the Jepson Center for the Arts, the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters, and the Telfair Academy. For more information on Telfair Museums, please visit www.telfair.org.