Michelangelo’s Young St. John the Baptist

Since 2019, Michelangelo’s only sculpture in Spain has been part of an ambitious digital reconstruction project in collaboration with Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli. Broken and vandalised during the Spanish Civil War (1939-1975), while housed in the Capilla del Salvador de Úbeda, the sculpture’s few surviving fragments became part of the collection of the Hospital de Tavera in Toledo. Factum Foundation’s 3D team recorded the fragments in high resolution and recreated the sculpture in a new form.

Factum Foundation’s reconstruction of Michelangelo’s Young St. John the Baptist © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation

Each surviving fragment was digitised by Factum Foundation using high-resolution photogrammetry. With input from art historians Francesco Caglioti and Matthias Wivel, and aided by a small number of archival photographs that show the sculpture before its destruction, Factum Foundation’s experts created 3D models of each fragments.

Archival photos of Michelangelo’s Young St. John the Baptist before its destruction © Baras, 1970. Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli

Fragments © Baras, 1970. Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli

By enabling an in-depth study of the surface, including cracks, chisel marks, and erosion, the fragments were reassembled onto a new body that reflects Michelangelo’s sculpting approach. The missing parts of the San Juanito figure were digitally reconstructed using 3D sculpting, guided by scans of other Michelangelo sculptures. A previous recreation of the sculpture, made by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in 2013 and now in Úbeda, was also 3D recorded for comparison and as a case study, along with plaster casts of the fragments from the Opificio’s collection in Florence.

The digitised fragments © Factum Foundation

Irene Gaumé working on the 3D model © Oscar Parasiego | Factum Foundation

Working on the pose using Michelangelo’s work as comparison for the pose © Factum Foundation

Original white fragments serve as placeholders, with borrowed hands scanned from other sculptures by Michelangelo © Factum Foundation

Working on the texture for the chisel marks on the fur tunic © Factum Foundation

At Hospital de Tavera studying the first reconstruction and the reference photos © Factum Foundation

Aniuska Martín and Macarena Crespo working on the 3D prints © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation

Monstserrat Fornes working on the 3D print before moulding © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation

Moulding the 3D print © Oak Taylor-Smith | Factum Foundation

The marble veining inside the cast © Oscar Parasiego | Factum Foundation

The reconstructed San Juanito was among the facsimiles made by Factum Foundation for ‘Michelangelo Imperfect’ at the Statens Museum for Kunst (29 March – 31 August 2025).