Giorgio Vasari begins his famed biography of Michelangelo not on Earth, but in the realm of the divine. He recounts how God – pitying mankind’s vainglorious artistic efforts – sent to Earth Michelangelo, a man “genius universal in each art.” Thus, according to Vasari, humankind was shown “perfection of line and shadow… sound judgment in sculpture,” and…
“The Day and the Night speak thus: We, in our swift course, have brought Duke Giuliano to his death….. In revenge… he has taken the light from us. With his closed eyes, he has closed ours, and we shall no longer look upon the earth.” This is a poem composed by Michelangelo Buonarotti on the…
Just around the corner from Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio is the often overlooked Bargello. Eclipsed by the Uffizi and the Accademia Galleries, the Bargello nevertheless houses an impressive collection of Renaissance and Baroque sculpture. One notable item tucked away within its halls is an early work by Michelangelo – a life-sized sculpture of the god Bacchus. …
In 1490, a young Michelangelo Buonarroti scrounged a three-foot slab of marble from a nearby building site. On this rough slab, Michelangelo made his first attempt to carve what would become his signature subject, the classical male nude. Inspired by tales from Ovid and Hygnisus, Michelangelo set to work carving a famous scene from Greek…