III.

Early Works

After political events led to the expulsion of the powerful Medici family from Florence in 1494, Michelangelo traveled to Venice, Bologna, and finally to Rome. He produced his first large-scale sculpture in Rome, a larger-than-life-size figure of a drunken Bacchus (1496-1498, Museo Nazionale, Bargello, Florence), the Roman god of wine. This sensual, nude youth is one of his few works of pagan rather than Christian subject matter and was based on ancient Greek and Roman statuary.

A.

Pietà

One of Michelangelo’s most memorable early works is a Pietà (1497-1500, Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City). The Pietà theme shows Christ in his mother’s lap, just after he is taken down from the cross. The theme was popular in France and northern Europe. But the two figures typically appeared awkward in northern art, with the body of a grown man lying stiffly across the lap of a much smaller woman, and with the wounds of Christ exaggerated to elicit a strong emotional response from the viewer. In contrast, Michelangelo's version shows Mary grieving silently and makes Christ’s wounds barely visible. For intense emotionalism, Michelangelo substituted restrained but eloquent gestures—the Virgin calls our attention to her dead son with her left hand, while her right arm embraces him gently, lifting his arm slightly so that it hangs lifelessly before us. Mary's full robe forms a broad base for Christ's limp body, which curves slightly to wrap around hers, making the group graceful and compact.

Michelangelo originally intended for the piece to be placed within a shallow niche, and accordingly, he polished to a smooth finish all the surfaces that would have been visible and gave meticulous care to the drapery. This high degree of finish is rarely present in Michelangelo's work, and so probably reflects the tastes of the patron, a French cardinal who had commissioned the sculpture to be placed on his tomb. Michelangelo returned to the theme of the Pietà late in his life, in two of his most personal expressions: the Florentine Pietà (1547?-1555, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence), which he meant to have placed on his own tomb, and the Rondanini Pietà (1555-1564, Castello Sforzesco, Milan), a work that remained unfinished when he died.

B.

David

Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1501 to work on David (1501-1504, Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence). The subject of this work is the Old Testament story of David and Goliath, in which the young David, future king of Israel, flings a stone from his slingshot to kill the giant Goliath, thereby saving his nation. The statue expresses not only the daring of the young hero, but also of Michelangelo himself, who established himself as a master with this work. This massive statue, which stands 5.17 meters (17 ft) tall, was carved from a block of stone that another sculptor had left unfinished. Michelangelo drew on the classical tradition in depicting David as a nude, standing with his weight on one leg, the other leg at rest (see contrapposto). This pose suggests impending movement, and the entire sculpture shows tense waiting, as David sizes up his enemy and considers his course of action.

While David reveals Michelangelo's expert knowledge of anatomy (he had been dissecting corpses for about five years), the head and hands are much too large in comparison with the torso. Critics have suggested several reasons for this inconsistency, but the most convincing is that the statue was originally intended for the roof of the Florence Cathedral, and exaggerating the head and hands made them more visible from a distance. The statue was never placed there, but set instead in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, the center of government in Florence. As a result its meaning changed: Rather than a religious image (it would have been one of several Old Testament figures on the cathedral), it became a symbol of the political strength of Florence against the forces of tyranny.

C.

The Tomb of Julius II

In 1505 Michelangelo began work on a tomb for Pope Julius II that was to have stood in the apse of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. Michelangelo’s earliest designs specify a freestanding structure with three levels: at the bottom, figures representing victory alternating with slaves; above them, four huge seated figures including Moses and Saint Paul; and finally, angels supporting either a coffin or an image of the pope. In all there would have been about 40 figures on a structure nearly as tall as a three-story building. But the scope of the work was drastically reduced as other projects delayed its completion.

In the end only three figures by Michelangelo's hand were placed on the tomb, which is now in Rome’s church of San Pietro in Vincoli. Of these, the most powerful figure is Moses (about 1515), a dynamic example of Michelangelo’s ability to infuse stone with a sense of movement and life. The muscular torso of Moses twists to the left, but his scowling face turns sharply to the right as if he has just seen the people worshiping their false god. His left leg is drawn back, as if he were about to rise to his feet in anger.

Two of the slave statues originally planned for the tomb, the Rebellious Slave and the Dying Slave (both about 1513-1516, Louvre, Paris, France), were also completed. They demonstrate Michelangelo’s approach to carving, in which cutting away excess stone appears to release an entrapped human figure. Here, as in many of his sculptures, Michelangelo left parts of the block of stone rough and unfinished, either because he was satisfied with the statues as they were or because he no longer planned to use them.