Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/88

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BUONARROTI

MosKS

ing figures of Rachel and Leah, symbols respec- tively of contemplative and active life, were carved by Michelangelo himself, but they are not as satis- factory as the Moses. The monument itself and the figures on the upper course were not executed by the great master, though they were w-orked out according to his suggestions. On the other hand, two shackled figures out of the series plan- ned by the sculp- tor are in the Louvre, though incomplete. The "Slaves" were intended to typi- fy the power of the pope in the domains of war and art. and were to stand in front of the herma; pil- lars, where the in- verted consoles now are. In the "Slaves" in the Louvre the an- tithesis between resistance to the fetters and sub- mission to the inevitable is expressed with remarkable skill. There are also in Florence some unfinished figures belonging to this monument, namely, a victor kneeling on a fallen foe, and four other figures, which are merely blocked out. About the tune of the completion of this momunent Michelangelo carved a striking bust of Brutus as the hero of liberty. Michelangelo regarded the freedom of his native city as lost after the second return of the Medici from exile and the assumption of the control of affairs by Alessandro and Cosmo de' Medici. The sorrow this caused him suggested the bust of Brutus, and cast a shadow on the tombs of Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici in the chapel spoken of above. The greater part of the work in the chapel, however, had been done before this time, and so the expression of embittered sorrow must be explained by the general depression of the artist not less than by his failure to realize his highest ideal, which also accounts for the gloom characteristic of his other creations.

Twelve figures included in the original design for the sepulchral monument of the Medici were never carved. According to Vasari's arrangement in 1563, a seated figure of Giuliano is placed in an upper niche of one of the monuments, while sym- bolical figures representing Day and Night recline on a sarcophagus below. If Michelangelo's words have been rightly understood, these symbolical figures are to be regarded as mourning for the untimely death of the duke, and as grieving that life for him had not been worth the living. "Not to see, nor to hear must be happiness for me", are the words attributed to Night, which is repre- sented as a giantess sunk in heavy and uneasy slumber, and symbolized by a mask, an owl, and a bunch of poppy-heads. The other allegorical fig- ure, Day, a man, is represented as having no desire to rouse himself to action. The plan of the second monument is similar to that of the one just de- scribed; the figures of Evening and Dawn make the same impression as those of Night and Day. The two Medicean dukes are ideally treated as ancient warriors, rather than portrayed as in life. In the statue of Giuliano it is the superb modelling of

the different parts that delights the eye; in the statue of Lorenzo the charm lies in the pose and the way in which the face is shadowed by the helmet. This figure of Lorenzo bears the name of II Pen- seroso (the Meditative). Against the wall of the chapel stands the unfinished and really unsuccessful Madonna and Child; the pose of the Madonna is unique.

Paintings. — Michelangelo once said that he was no painter; on another occasion he declared he was no architect, but in reality he was both. About 1503 he painted a Holy Family, now in Florence, in which the Madonna holds the Child over her shoulder to St. Joseph who stands behind. In this canvas Michelangelo departs from the tra- ditional representation of the Holy Family, by the quaint grouping of nude figures in the background even more than by the entirely new pose of the Mother and Child. An "Entombment of Christ", now in London, is unfinished. lake Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest painter of that period, Michel- angelo made a large number of sketches. He also entered into competition with that famous artist by undertaking (1504) a battle-piece which was to adorn the wall opposite Leonardo's "Battle of Anghiari" in the great council chamber of the palace of the Signory, called then the Palazzo dei Priori and now the Town-hall of Florence. As Michelangelo just at this date entered the service of the popes, the cartoon he prepared was never carried out and is now lost. After years of dis- agreement with Julius II the painting of the Sis- tine Chapel was begun in 1508, and in 1512 the ceiling was uncovered. Michelangelo, who was not a fresco-painter, exerted all his powers of mind and body, abandoning his preference for the effects of sculpture in order to express without assistance, and in defiance of the envious, the full ideal of his conceptions in this unwonted medium. Creation, the Fall, and the preparation for the coming of the Redeemer form the subject of the fresco. The painter first divided and enclosed the ceiling with painted architecture which formed a frame for the frescoes; the cornice for this frame on the broad side of the chapel is adorned with the figures of naked youths. The nine fields of the smooth vault contain the history of the sinful human race as far as Noe. Around the dome, between the lunettes, are vaulted triangular spaces or penden- tives; in these are placed prophets and sibyls, to- gether with boy-angels, all pointing to the approach- ing redemption. In the lunettes over the windows, and in the vaulted triangular spaces over the lu- nettes are represented the ancestors of Christ. The subject, arrangement, and technical excellence of these frescoes have always excited the greatest admiration. The Divine, the prophetic, and the human are here most happily expressed; the con- ception of the first is original; the prophets and sibyls have wonderful individuality, and great skill is shown in handling the drapery, while human beings are represented in animated action. The architect created the beautiful division of the space and the exact proportions, the sculptor produced the anatomically correct figures, and the painter knew how to blend forms and colours into perfect harmony. After the completion of the work Michel- angelo could no longer regret that it had been forced upon him against his will. Equally famous is the great fresco of the "Last Judgment" which he painted upon the altar-wall of the chapel (1535- 41). In this fresco, however, the nudity of the figures aroused objection, and they have been painted over by various hands. The "Last Judgment" has been more blackened and disfigured by time than the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Architecture. — The commission given by Leo X