Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/282

 SCULPTURE IN THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD. of the human form, and the power and fire which he was able to throw into his works. The great sculptor was one of the first to be admitted into the Academy of Art founded at Florence by Lorenzo de' Medici. The mask of a Faun's head hewn in marble when Buonarroti was quite a child is still preserved in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence. The work which first made his name known beyond his native town was a statue of Cupid : his fame soon spread to Rome, to which city he was invited by one of the cardi- nals. His Pieta, in St. Peter's, was produced soon after his arrival, and is by many critics considered his finest work. A kneeling figure of Cupid, now at South Kensing- ton, and a group of the Madonna and the Holy Child, now in the church of Notre Dame at Bruges, were among his next works. In 1504 he undertook iiis celebrated statue of David, which formerly stood in the Piazza del Gran' Duca at Florence, but is now removed to one of the courts of the Accademia. Yet more famous is the colossal figure of Moses (Fig. 106) in the old basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli, outside the gates of Rome. Sir Richard West- macott has characterised this figure as one of the grandest efforts of genius, as original in conception as it is masterly in execution. This colossal Moses is seated, holding in one hand the tables of the law, and with the other playing with his long beard. From his clustering curls spring the horns ascribed to him by tradition, typical of power and light ; his brow and eyes are full of power and majesty, his whole pose expresses the strength of will and severity of the stern lawgiver of Israel. This marvellous figure was to have formed part of a huge monument to Julius II., the design for which, by Michelangelo, is still preserved. It was to have consisted of a vast quadrangle, with niches