The Genius

The Genius belongs to the eight panels, showing the virtues, that Michelangelo the Younger commissioned for the ceiling of the Gallery. The work was commisionated to Francesco Bianchi, emerging artist, pupil of Bilivert. The canvas, carried out between 1615 and 1617, shows the Genius as Mercurio, symbol of the perceptual speed of the mind. That work is linked to the earlier period of Bianchi, before of his stay in Rome and therefore strongely linked to the manner of Bilivert.