Uffizi, is doubly interesting as a work of art and as an instance of
Michelangelo's fearless originality. It was painted about the year
1503 for that Florentine merchant prince, Angelo Doni, who sat for
his portrait to the divine Raphael. Although Signorelli had once
before introduced nude figures as a decorative element in a Madonna
and Child which he painted for Lorenzo de' Medici (and it is possible
that Michelangelo saw this picture), no other artist of the
Renaissance had ever dared to interpret a sacred subject such as the
Holy Family in so Pagan a spirit. An ancient Greek would quite
naturally have supposed the beautiful group in the foreground to
represent Juno playing with the infant Bacchus, only wondering,
perhaps, why the artist had neglected to place a garland of vine
leaves and clustering grapes round the Wine God's curly head. St.
Joseph might easily be taken for a momentarily uxorious Jupiter or
for a sober Silenus, and the nude shepherds idling in the background
place the scene in a pleasant corner of Arcadia, while a grinning
little Faun does duty for St. John the Baptist.
Nevertheless there is not the slightest hint at irreverence; it is
merely a Pagan translation, by a master hand, of an oft-repeated
Christian theme, a transposition as beautiful and as harmonious in
its way as the original score. Indeed, Vasari tells us that
Michelangelo painted this strikingly original _tondo_ merely "to show
his skill," and the magnificent modelling and foreshortening of the
Madonna's arms, the masterful composition, and the wonderfully
accurate drawing more than achieve his object. As to the colouring,
he entirely disregarded it in his sculptor's pride. He might as well
have carved this remarkable work in marble. Before painting the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo appeared to be wilfully
colour-blind, as if afraid that painting would wile him away from the
sister art, to which he had plighted his troth.
There is very little doubt that the original design of the _Creation
of Man_ was inspired in Michelangelo by one of the antique gems which
he admired as a boy in Lorenzo de' Medici's collection. A similar
origin may be assigned to the group of Judith and her maid, also in
the Sistine Chapel, to several of the Athletes, and to the Leda and
the Swan which he painted for the Duke of Ferrara. But this
magnificent recumbent figure of Adam far surpasses anything in
ancient as well as in modern art, and is indeed a worthy centre round
which the remaining stupendous compositions appear to gravitate like
planets round the sun. It is here, more than in any other of his
works, that we can appreciate Michelangelo's wonderful gift of
interpreting the highest and most inaccessible themes in a simple yet
imposing manner. Resting heavily on the curved surface of the globe,
his powerful limbs and finely modelled flesh clearly outlined against
the indigo blue of the sky and the solemn lines of the landscape,
Adam gives one the impression of a huge primeval being instinct with
strength which he is as yet unable to understand or to use, and just
awaking into life, a divine spark of which he receives from the
Deity. Michelangelo's conception of God the Father, as an old but
powerful and majestic figure, has ever since remained the only
possible pictorial symbol of so lofty a subject.
[Illustration: THE HOLY FAMILY.]
Apart from its great artistic merit, a pathetic interest attaches to
the statue of _Moses_ because it represents the last act of that
tragedy of the tomb which darkened the greater part of Michelangelo's
life, and influenced his art more than any other circumstance of his
eventful career.
The leader and law-giver of the Hebrews is seated in an attitude of
thought and wisdom, holding under his right arm the tables of the
law, and supporting his chin with his left hand, like one tired and
full of cares. His beard escapes in long waves between the fingers
of his right hand. The hands and strong bare arms of the _Moses_ are
magnificent, beyond comparison the finest ever modelled by
Michelangelo. The expression of the face is one of commanding power
and almost fierce energy, a face capable of inspiring terror rather
than love, a veritable embodiment of the cruel, uncompromising Hebrew
legislation. The powerful, massive form is clearly apparent beneath
the beautiful folds of the draperies, for here, as in all
Michelangelo's clothed figures, whether in painting or in sculpture,
dress does not hide but almost enhances the shape and beauty of the
body. "This statue alone," exclaimed the Cardinal of Mantua, when he
saw the finished work, "is enough to honour the memory of Pope
Julius."
[Illustration: THE MOSES.]
In the Medicean tombs Michelangelo may be said to have equalled if
not surpassed the masterpieces of ancient sculpture. We have
selected the tomb of Lorenzo de' Medici for our illustration, as the
statues which adorn it, symbolizing _Evening_ and _Dawn_, although
conceived in the same spirit of profound melancholy, are, if
possible, even more beautiful than the Day and Night of Giuliano's
tomb. _Evening_ is represented by an old man, brooding and dejected,
but hardly less powerful and muscular than the giant Day. It is
evident that he is not suffering from bodily fatigue, but that he is
sinking under the weight of some unbearable, irremediable calamity.
The virgin _Dawn_ is perhaps the most beautiful female figure of
modern or of ancient art. She is represented as only half awake and
almost unable to rise from her couch, while there is a suggestion of
ineffable bitterness in the expression of the face with its
half-closed eyes wearily greeting another day of sorrow. The
powerful yet graceful limbs are magnificently modelled, and the whole
figure may be regarded as the perfection of the female form, redeemed
from any breath of sensuality by a commanding loftiness of
expression, such as the Greeks gave to the statues of their goddesses.
Michelangelo's _Last Judgment_ is a work of so colossal a nature that
it would be impossible to give even a remote idea of the whole
composition in this unpretentious little book. We have therefore
selected for our illustration the central group representing Christ
the Judge, a dread figure enthroned on clouds, with hand upraised in
an attitude of stern command, surrounded by the Blessed, who press
round the Son of God with eager, frightened looks and gestures, as if
hardly secure of their final salvation in that terrible day of
retribution, "cum vix Justus sit securus." Nestling timorously close
to her Son, half sitting, half crouching, with head averted, as if to
avoid seeing the coming wrath, and arms crossed on her bosom, is the
Mother of God, a wonderfully sweet and pathetic figure, full of pity
and sorrow for the condemned souls, and contrasting strangely with
the inexorable Judge rising in his stern majesty to pronounce
sentence on the frightened, shuddering mass of humanity. The action
of the Judge, and indeed every part of the composition, forcibly
remind us of the _Last Judgment_ in the Campo Santo of Pisa, but
there is not a figure or a detail in the whole of this colossal work
which does not bear the imprint of that powerful originality and that
wonderful gift to express the most varied emotion and to interpret
the loftiest themes, which were the principal characteristics of
Michelangelo's genius.
LIST OF CHIEF WORKS
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
VIENNA, ALBERTINA GALLERY.
Several drawings and sketches.
BELGIUM
BRUGES, CHURCH OF ST. BAVON.
Marble group of Virgin and Child. (Executed
at Carrara in 1506 for two Flemish merchants.)
BRITISH ISLES
LONDON, NATIONAL GALLERY.
No. 790, Entombment. Unfinished painting on
wood. (Between 1501-1504.)
ROYAL ACADEMY, DIPLOMA GALLERY.
Madonna and Child. Tondo bas-relief (1501-1504).
LONDON, BRITISH MUSEUM.
Several drawings.
OXFORD, TAYLOR COLLECTION.
Drawings.
FRANCE
PARIS, LOUVRE.
Two colossal statues of Captives, originally
intended for the tomb of Julius II. (1513).
Numerous drawings, including Head of Faun.
LILLE, MUSÉE WICAR.
Drawings.
GERMANY
BERLIN MUSEUM.
Statue of youthful St. John the Baptist (about 1495).
WEIMAR MUSEUM.
Drawings and studies for the Last Judgment.
HOLLAND
HAARLEM, TEYLER MUSEUM.
Many important drawings.
ITALY
BOLOGNA, CHURCH OF SAN DOMENICO.
Statue of kneeling Angel (1494).
FLORENCE, ACCADEMIA.
Colossal statue of David (1501-1504).
Statue of St. Matthew (unfinished).
BUONARROTI COLLECTION.
Madonna and Child (bas-relief), 1489-1492.
Fight between Centaurs and Lapithae (bas-relief), 1489-1492.
Numerous sketches, studies, architectural drawings
and three hundred autograph letters.
DUOMO.
Unfinished group representing "The Deposition from the Cross."
MUSEO NAZIONALE.
Statue of Bacchus (executed in 1497 for
Jacopo Galli).
Dying Adonis (1501-1504).
Apollo (unfinished statue, executed in 1530
for Baccio Valori).
Victory (group intended for Julius II.'s Tomb,
1521).
Bust of Brutus (1544?).
CHURCH OF SAN LORENZO.
Medicean Tombs (begun 1521).
New Sacristy and Library of San Lorenzo.
UFFIZI GALLERY.
The Holy Family (tondo in oil-colours, painted
for Angelo Doni in 1503).
Numerous drawings, including _The Resurrection
of Lazarus_, _Prudence_, the _Last Judgment_.
BOBOLI GARDENS.
Four Slaves (unfinished statues).
ROME, ST. PETER'S.
Group of La Pietà (1499).
CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA SOPRA MINERVA.
Statue of the Saviour (1521).
CHURCH OF SAN PIETRO IN VINCOLI.
Tomb of Julius II. and statue of Moses (completed 1545).
VATICAN, SISTINE CHAPEL.
The Creation and Fall of Man (1508-1512). }
} Frescos.
The Last Judgment (1535-1541). }
PAULINE CHAPEL.
The Conversion of St. Paul. } Frescoes
} (1542-49).
The Martyrdom of St. Peter. }
CHISWICK PRESS: PRINTED BY CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.