Michelangelo's Sketches and Thanksgiving

Madonna and Child

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, known to the world as Michelangelo, was an artist, sculptor and architect whose work fascinates his viewers five hundred years later.

He thought out loud on paper with ink and chalk, sometimes with a shout and other times with a whisper. Drawings to him were as powerful as words, yet for whatever reason, he preferred to leave only his finished work and destroyed most of his preliminary drawings. About 600 sketches remain, including 29 that were exhibited in The Frist Center of the Visual Arts in Nashville when we were there several weeks ago.

The sketch of the Madonna and Child, drawn about 1524, captivated me. Using a mix of mediums: black chalk, red chalk, red wash, white heightening and ink, Michelangelo created a three-dimensional image that seems to lift from the page.

Many of the sketches in the gallery were simple outlines using minimal lines. Michelangelo often utilized every section of the paper. He sometimes drew a detailed, additional sketch in a corner when something caught his attention.

500 years later we can catch a glimpse inside the mind of a brilliant man who wanted to focus his attention on one specific detail, as in the sketch above where he adjusted the eye's shape and added longer lashes in the corner sketch.

What message can we find in the work of this genius? What words echo from his sketches centuries later?With Thanksgiving this week, I have these questions to consider:

• If it is an act of a brilliant mind to focus close, can we also this week, pause to focus on the reasons to give thanks?

• In the lifting of details, can we also draw attention in our reflections of gratitude?

• Rather than feel the need to destroy our heart sketches, can we share with one another around our tables?

I hope so. With simple lines, I pray you sketch your own memories this Thanksgiving.

Blessings to you and those you love.