michelangelo's art & michelangelo's life - page 4

During this time Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned by the City of Florence to paint the “Pisan Wars” on one of the large walls that flank the “Salone dei Cinquecento” in Palazzo Vecchio. (This fresco no longer exists). Short later the Gonfaloniere (Governor for life) Pier Soderini commissioned Michelangelo to paint scenes from the battle of Cascina on the opposite wall. The artist realized only a few large shetches (now lost) bacause Pope Julius II soon called him to Rome to execute a monumental tomb for himself.

Pope Julius’ tomb, according to Michelangelo’s project, was to be a grand complex with 40 life size statues. It was to measure 23 feet wide, 3 feet in deep and 2 feet high . The sculptor, enthusiastic for the commission, went immediatly to Carrara to select a large quantity of marble. It took him some few months before the marble was finally sent to Rome and later moved to St. Peter’s. Because the Pope would not decide when to commence the work, Michelangelo left for Florence some months later discouraged and frustrated. It was not until a year later (1504) that they recinciled and Michelangelo went to Bologna to complete a large bronze statue of Pope Julius that was to be placed on the facade of St. Petronioio church. The statue was later melted down when Bologna was taken over by Bentivoglio. The Duke Alfonso of Ferrara used the bronze to make an artillery cannon and scornfully called it “Julietta”.

In 1508 Michelangelo was again called to Rome where he received an order from the Pope to paint (in fresco) the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. At first he refused, feeling insicure in his ability to paint.
The Pope instigated by Bramante and Raffaello who were jealous of Michelangelo and wanted to put their rival in difficulty, ordered Buonarroti to put aside sculpturing and dedicate himself to the Sistine Chapel. He realized his obbligation and spent the next 4 years completing the monument that would make him famous not only as a sculpture but also as a monumental painter.

The Tomb of Pope Julius was still to be realized. The project was modified and altered many times. The tomb was finally completed in 1545; it was extremely reduced in size and not placed in the center of St. Pietro Basilica, as Michelangelo had visualized it, but in the modest church of St. Pietro in Vincoli, where it still stands today. Of the 40 statues projected by Michelangelo only the powerful statue of “Moses” (archieved in 1513) was inserted, flanked in each side with the statues of Lia and Rachel.

Out of the many decorative figures which were in the original design to find place on the tomb of Pope Julius only a few are left:

- Six “Prisoners” which unfinished, preserve the signs the first creative passion of Genius. It seems that these figures awoken from their stony sleep try to come out of the marble by their own power and almost convulsively liberate themselves from their dull material. Two of them are now shown in the Louvre Museum in Paris, since they were donated by Michelangelo himself to Roberto Strozzi who gave them as a present to king Francesco I of France. Four more “Prisoners”, after being in the “Boboli Gardens” in Florence for many years, are now shown in the Academy Gallery, Firenze (same Museum where also ”David” is).

- The incomplete statue called “Victory” which was presented after Michelangelo’s death by the artist’s nephew’s to Granduke Cosimo I of the Medici. It is nowadays shown in the Salone dei Cinquecento of the Palazzo Vecchio (Town-hall) of Florence.