Abstract

This article focuses on a drawing, regarded by 18th-century amateurs as a masterpiece by Michelangelo, and serves as a point of departure to illuminate the amateur’s fascination with the artist's hand. This self-referential representation of the artistic process attracted much comment among connoisseurs. As virtually all amateurs had their say on the meaning of « les mains de Michel-Ange » the drawing sheds further light on the objects of desire which informed the amateur’s discourse and the mediality such discourse needed in order to join word and image.