Pope Julius's tomb in its present form is very elaborate and
detailed, however this tomb is only a fraction of what the original design
contained. Michelangelo was commissioned
to build this and his initial design had close to 40 sculptures in the tomb. Although this design was never carried out
there are still many sculptures, like the slaves seen in the Khan Academy
video, that have been completed. While
researching I found that in addition to the two completed slaves by Michelangelo
there are four unfinished slaves (done in the early 1500s) that can be found in
the hallway leading up to his statue of David.
While not complete, these four figures give us great insight into the Michelangelo's
sculpting process and still serve as beautiful pieces of art.
From left to right the sculptures are titled Awakening
Slave, Young Slave, Atlas Slave, and Bearded Slave (these are not names given
to them by Michelangelo.) These
sculptures, like many of his others, pay great attention to the human body and
show all of the muscles and intricate parts of the human body. As you can see each sculptures is twisting
and turning allowing every muscle to be accented. What I love about these sculptures is that we
can see how Michelangelo sculpted. The
awakening slave best exemplifies, in my opinion, the process which Michelangelo
took when sculpting. You really feel,
like he so famously put, that all he is doing is removing the excess stone and
that the sculpture is already complete underneath it all. The fact that four unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo
still have a huge impact on how we see the Renaissance speaks to how great of
an artist he really was.
Source:
http://ahuskofmeaning.com/2011/08/michelangelo-at-the-accademia-part-2-the-unfinished-slaves/
I don't know if i like Michelangelo's slave sculpting as much as i like his David. i am also shocked to see Michelangelo sculpt a sculpture not as real as his previous work. Like how the head is bent backwards towards his back, or how the head is painfully rested on the shoulder. I wonder if its suppose to represent the harsh labor conditions that many slaves probably encountered?
ReplyDeleteInteresting observation, Lucy. What are these sculptures trying to convey? I have been fascinated by them for a while. I wonder if they aren't more sensitive to the slave condition than we expect? In any case, slaves have rarely been depicted in art (unless being smitten by the Ancient Egyptians or chained in Ancient Sumeria). This seems different, and somehow worthy of reflection.
ReplyDeleteIn these sculptures It appears to me they are protecting themselves, as if they are scared or being hurt. They all have an arm up by their face as if it is blocking something. I wonder if that was intent or just the positioning of the body.
ReplyDelete