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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account