david of michelang…

Moses represents the biblical Moses in the book of Exodus. The work portrays the moment when Moses descends from Mount Sinai with the tablet of the Ten Commandments and finds the Israelites worshipping a golden calf.

Moses is framed by seven other secondary figures that together constitute the facade of the tomb of Pope Julius II. To the right and left of Moses, the main character, are Rachel and Leah, the sisters described in the book of Genesis who become involved in a marital entanglement whose descendants form the lineage of Jacob.

Moses is a work done at the most mature stage in Michelangelo’s art. The mastery of contrapposto, realized to perfection in his sculpture David, is intensified by the mastery of the creation of potential movement observed in Moses.

Although the figure is seated, the body language, the way he holds the tablets with the ten commandments while playing with his long beard and the seated position of passivity that contrasts with his expression of action gives the sculpture of Moses a deeper and more human dimension.

suzuki (hiroshima)

The church of San Pietro in Vincoli, meaning St. Peter in Chains, so named because it was rebuilt on Roman remains in 430 to house the relic of the chains that had held St. Peter prisoner, houses the tomb of Pope Julius. II. This glorious tomb, with its famous sculpture of a wrathful Moses in the center, is an attraction for scholars, art lovers and tourists from all over the world. It is a powerful statue. In 1913, Sigmund Freud spent more than three weeks looking closely at this intriguing work of art, trying to understand the tremendous emotional power of the statue. People have been visiting the church since the 16th century with this same idea in mind. Anyone wishing to experience the spell of Michelangelo’s original «Moses» need only visit this historic church on Oppian Hill in Rome,

The sculpture is now on display at San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. It was originally intended to be kept privately in the tomb of Julius II, but its current location makes this important historical sculpture much more accessible to fans of the Renaissance and art in general.

michelangelo’s painting

Although resized, the papal tomb maintains a remarkable compositional linearity and, although over time it has been strongly criticized for not seeming worthy of a pope, it confirms Michelangelo’s excellence. Today it is confirmed as one of the key works to understand not only the work of the great artist from Arezzo, but all the art of the sixteenth century: an artistic period strongly linked to the political and religious vicissitudes of the transition from the reform to the counter-reformation of the Council of Trent.

The fact that this feature was a custom repeatedly used in Michelangelo’s time is confirmed by an interpretation by Condivi: «he has, as is usually said, the two horns on his head, near the top of the forehead».

It is said that Michelangelo, after finishing the work, in a moment of contemplation and momentary alienation (something that Kant, two centuries later, would have defined sublime), shouted at the statue: «Why don’t you speak?», giving it a hammer blow on the knee.

pieta miguel angel florence

The sculpture of the prophet, sculpted in Carrara marble by the brilliant Italian sculptor, is surrounded by legends and curious facts. It was completed in 1515 and can be visited in the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli, in the Italian capital.

The Moses is a sixteenth-century sculpture, created by the brilliant Florentine sculptor Michelangelo Buonarotti commissioned by Pope Julius II. It was conceived in 1515 as part of the funeral monument of the supreme pontiff; an ambitious project that could not be realized and that relegated the tomb of the pope to the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, in Rome.

The Moses is surrounded by a series of curious facts. It is said that the artist thought that this was his most realistic work; when he finished it, Michelangelo ordered him to speak and when the marble colossus remained silent, he hit him on the knee with a hammer. The only thing left for the brilliant sculptor to do was to extract the breath of life from the marble.

The tomb was completed in 1545 and the tomb, attached to the wall, had lost part of the splendor projected by the artist. The sculpture, originally conceived so that it could be seen from all angles, can only be contemplated from the front.