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Michelangelo: a New Approach to His Genius

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Michelangelo: a New Approach to His Genius MICHELANGELO: A NEW APPROACH TO HIS GENIUS By John Goldsmith Phillips Associate Curator of Renaissance and Modern Art Michelangelo's great sculptures are universally a painting and a relief sculpture are composed familiar. Casually enough, we have come to from one point of view only, the composition accept them as part of our common heritage, of a sculpture in the round is developed from like the air we breathe. The great figure of innumerable points of view. In their present Moses from the Julius Tomb holds no more position, therefore, many of Michelangelo's novelty for us than do the Ten Command- freestanding figures tend to lose their intrinsic ments that the Lawgiver holds in his right character and to assume some of the attributes hand. But despite this universal recognition, of relief carving, with the walls supplying the recent scholarship has made many new discov- background. And although some of these mas- eries which deepen our understanding of terpieces were given their present positions by Michelangelo's chief works. Michelangelo himself, there is, clearly enough, Ready aids in renewing our affection for far more to them than meets the eye. these masterpieces are the reproductions-pho- One could wish that more of Michelangelo's tographs and casts-which enable those of us statues were, like the monumental David, so who cannot see the originals with our own eyes placed that they might be fully appreciated as still to have a fairly accurate visual image of sculptures in the round. Yet actually those as- them. And since Michelangelo's sculptures are pects of the master's art which, by the nature frequently so placed and lighted that a close of their architectural settings, have always examination is not possible, such reproduc- been concealed are no longer denied us. For tions assist expert and layman alike. J. Schnei- by an act of legerdemain, plaster casts-those der-Lengyel's superlative photographs in The friendless orphans of so many museum gal- Sculptures of Michelangelo, recently published leries1-combined with photography, now work by the Phaidon Press, give just such visual a double miracle. The casts, made by the piece- images, making this book important and mold process, a technique which may be used thrilling. without moving the marbles from their fixed Casts especially are of great value in this re- positions, reveal what has been overlooked gard. By some strange chance it has been left since first they were set in place. And photog- to them to illumine an aspect of Michel- raphy, as our illustrations show, sets this down angelo's art that has hitherto passed unnoticed, in a permanent visual record. and it is an exciting aspect. For the first time How startling a record! Like many of we can see a number of Michelangelo's most Michelangelo's pen and crayon sketches which important creations just as they appeared be- were meant for himself alone, these camera fore they left the artist's workshop. views tell us once again of his absolute integ- When we come to think of it, most of Michel- rity as an artist. They show that even when he angelo's marbles have never been visible in was creating a figure which he knew was des- their entirety; for they have been placed 1The problem of the display of casts in the present- walls in architectural or in day museum finds one solution in the current prac- against settings, tice of the Metropolitan Museum. Casts of renaissance niches, so that we see them in much the same sculptures are being patinated to approximate the way as we would a picture-from more or less effect of the materials of the originals (marble, terra- straight on. The of cotta, and bronze). Skilled artists are carrying out this composition freestanding work, the WPA and continued the from that of its sis- begun by by sculpture differs, however, Museum with the income accrued from the John ter arts in this fundamental respect. Whereas Taylor Johnston Memorial Fund. 47 The Metropolitan Museum of Art is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin ® www.jstor.org BACK VIEW OF A CAST OF THE FIGURE OF GIULIANO DE' MEDICI, BY MICHELANGELO BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART the Giuliano, and the Lorenzo, which are carved with such economy that the exact shapes and dimensions of the original blocks may still be visualized. Although at times he merely suggested the forms of the back sec- tions, the whole concept is always there. The least worked of them have that same grandeur of expression that makes even the so-called "unfinished" Michelangelos, with which we are familiar, such mighty achievements. Indeed they serve as a reminder that the word "unfinished" when applied to Michel- angelo has a very special meaning. In a real sense, of course, his marbles are all finished, for whenever an artist down his tools and NIGHT HOLDING A FIRESTONE lays decides to do no more, the curtain falls on the tined to stand against a sightless wall he was last act of that artistic production. In a nar- too great a master to confine his efforts merely rower sense, however, some of the pieces may to that part of the stone that would be seen. be called unfinished. For instance, the sculptor First, as each of our illustrations reveals, he stopped short of completing the masculine fig- had to satisfy his own highly critical self by ures of Day and Twilight for the Medici creating an all-around, three-dimensional en- tombs. He purposely left the two heads rough- tity. Other sculptors, it is true, have carried to ly blocked out, with results that have ever a state of completion or near completion the since supplied scholars with material for the back sections of figures made to be set against deepest speculation regarding his artistic in- walls. Most generally, however, in European tentions. The backs of the two sculptures also art even the most gifted have dealt summarily reflect this revolutionary treatment. For al- with the back; being content to work in what though Michelangelo restricted himself to fin- might be called a glorified high relief, they ishing only certain minor passages, these areas have reasonably enough devoted their best cre- give a limiting reality to the backs which ative efforts to the visible frontal areas. Michel- otherwise are unhewn or no more than broad- angelo, who, according to accepted standards ly generalized, making them one with the of his time, was most emphatically not a "rea- front sides. We can imagine the sculptor, with sonable" man, thus ran directly counter to the hammer and chisel in hand, working around common practice of the day in his effort to these great blocks, as they stood in the center create for himself completely integrated works of his workshop, and creating, out of the dis- of art. sonance of "finished" and "unfinished," works Blaise de Vigenere's description of the mas- of art complete in themselves. ter hewing away at the marble like a man pos- Casts also throw new light on those sculp- sessed, suggests that once he took up the chisel tures that have in part been reworked by he worked persistently until, roughly at least, Michelangelo's pupils, telling us the tragic he had achieved his intention. Michelangelo's story of what might have been. His Risen problem was both posed and limited by the Christ has always remained in an artistic shape of the stone before him, for he had the limbo; the figure which everyone sees in the stonemason's respect for his material. This is church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in dramatically apparent, indeed, in the profile Rome was "completed" by Pietro Urbino (who and back views of such statues as the Moses, botched the job) and was then "repaired" by 48 MICHELANGELO: A NEW APPROACH TO HIS GENIUS Federigo Frizzi. As Michelangelo's friend Sebastiano del Piombo once took care to point out, it does not reveal the hand of the master. Only when we turn to the back areas-which the pupils, reasonable young men, did not trouble to recarve-do we sense the grandeur of the original composition. All the master's genius appears in that stupendous back. Sim- ilarly, the Florence Pieta, the great sculptural work of MVichelangelo'sold age, was, after his death, considerably recut by Tiberio Calcagni. To see the genius of Michelangelo in this work, we must again disregard the recarved areas and turn to the rear, which offers us as brave and monumental a as an composition DETAIL OF THE PIETA IN ST. PETER'S artist ever dreamed of. Here indeed the "un- finished" state reaches its apotheosis. row in the stone held by Michelangelo's Night Using casts in this manner to review the meant to hold tinder? We could, of course, be sculptural works of Michelangelo also raises assured about the intended purpose of this new points of iconographic interest. Consider stone, were a steel to be found in Night's left for example the lovely figure of Night in the hand. Unfortunately, however, the "unfin- Medici Chapel. We all know that Michel- ished" technique has here triumphed over angelo has endowed her with various noctur- iconography; Night's left hand is barely sug- nal symbols, a crescent moon, a star, a mask, gested by a few rough strokes of the chisel. It and a garland of poppies and soporific herbs, is interesting to recall, by the way, that the the latter, incidentally, being an Ovidian no- collar of the renowned Order of the Golden tion.2 But one other symbol of Night has by Fleece is composed of interlaced steels con- some strange fate until now escaped the notice nected by firestones which in form resemble of the countless eyes that have gazed upon her.
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