--- description: The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge will unveil the art this week title: These Statues of Naked Men Riding Panthers May Be Michelangelo's Only Surviving Bronze Sculptures image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3139d49c086c27ea/69877d24524fc094bedec429/michelangelo-bronze-statue.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # These Statues of Naked Men Riding Panthers May Be Michelangelo's Only Surviving Bronze Sculptures by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 2, 2015 3:03 PM CUT  Two bronzes allegedly created by Italian sculptor Michelangelo provided by the Fitzmuseum and University of Cambridge on Feb. 2, 2015. Two bronzes allegedly created by Italian sculptor Michelangelo provided by the Fitzmuseum and University of Cambridge on Feb. 2, 2015.Fitzwilliam Museum/EPA by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 2, 2015 3:03 PM CUT A British museum plans to unveil two sculptures this week that it believes to be Michelangelo’s only surviving bronze statues. The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge [believes](http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/news/archive/article.html?5006 "undefined") that the iconic artist created the bronze figures, depicting two muscular men riding panthers, directly following his completion of _David_ and prior to the Sistine Chapel. The orphan statues had been previously attributed to various sculptors until Cambridge art history professor Paul Joannides noticed a tiny detail that has been attributed to Michelangelo. Museum officials remain hesitant to definitively attribute the statues to Michelangelo. Keeper of Fitzwilliam Museum’s applied arts, Victoria Avery, told the [_Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/feb/02/michelangelo-bronzes-sculptures-fitzwilliam-museum-cambridge "undefined")that even though the pieces are clearly masterpieces, “You have to be pretty brave to even contemplate that they could be work by an artist of the magnificence and fame and importance of Michelangelo. We decided to be rather cautious, to be very careful and methodical. … Nobody wants to be shot down and to look like an idiot.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3691994/michelangelo-sculptures/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3691994/michelangelo-sculptures/"},"headline":"These Statues of Naked Men Riding Panthers May Be Michelangelo's Only Surviving Bronze Sculptures","datePublished":"2015-02-02T15:03:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:16:26.828Z","description":"The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge will unveil the art Tuesday","url":"https://time.com/3691994/michelangelo-sculptures/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Art","Fine Art"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3139d49c086c27ea/69877d24524fc094bedec429/michelangelo-bronze-statue.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3139d49c086c27ea/69877d24524fc094bedec429/michelangelo-bronze-statue.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Michelangelo Bronzes discovered by Fitzwilliam Museum and University of Cambridge","caption":"Michelangelo Bronzes discovered by Fitzwilliam Museum and University of Cambridge","creditText":"Fitzwilliam Museum/EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3691994/michelangelo-sculptures/","name":"These Statues of Naked Men Riding Panthers May Be Michelangelo's Only Surviving Bronze Sculptures"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"U.K. Museum Believes It Has Michelangelo Sculptures","description":"U.K. Museum believes it has disovered Michelangelo bronze sculptures that were not known before.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Zvmrqkvz/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-03T06:11:40.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Zvmrqkvz.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3691994/michelangelo-sculptures/","duration":"PT31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3691994/michelangelo-sculptures/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```