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.

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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. closely the one found in the hand of Night. In Night holds in her right hand, which when any future revaluation of the meaning of the viewed from the front is quite hidden behind Medici tomb figures, the firestone will be a her head, a round, flattish object. It is certain- point of vital significance. It should also be ly the firestone or flint that, according to the added here that the way in which the backs of late sixteenth-century writer Cesare Ripa,3 the the four recumbent tomb figures are carved figure of Night is often represented as holding may assist in solving the much debated prob- in her hand. By striking the firestone with the lem of the development of Michelangelo's steel, which Ripa describes her as grasping in plans for the Medici tombs. the other hand, Night creates sparks to light Among the other iconographic surprises are the candle, another of her symbols.4 Ripa fur- the pile of stones on which the Bruges Ma- ther records that a piece of tinder may be donna sits-she might be called Michelangelo's placed on the stone to aid in starting a flame. Madonna of the Rocks-and the grotesque Does our imagination deceive us, or is the fur- mask decorating the armor on the incredibly 2 Metamorphoses XI.592-622. powerful back of Giuliano de' Medici, for the 3 Iconologia (Rome, 1603), p. 361. first time seen clearly and in relation to the 4 Note, however, that Ripa describes the stone as being whole The mask is like the one on in the left hand, and the steel as in the figure. being right. Giuliano's but Michelangelo may not have bothered to distinguish breastplate, more human, and between them-he was himself ambidexterous. deeply anguished.

49 THE PIETA IN ST. PETER'S IN ROME THE MADONNA AND CHILD IN THE CHURCH OF NOTRE DAME, BRUGES THE RISEN CHRIST IN SANTA MARIA SOPRA MINERVA, ROME, AND THE MOSES IN SAN PIETRO IN VINCOLI THE STATUE OF MOSES IN SAN PIETRO IN VINCOLI, ROME THE DYING CAPTIVE. IN THE LOUVRE IN PARIS THE HEROIC CAPTIVE. IN THE LOUVRE LORENZO DE' MEDICI. FROM HIS TOMB IN THE NEW SACRISTY IN THE CHURCH OF SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE LORENZO DE' MEDICI. FROM HIS TOMB IN SAN LORENZO GIULIANO DE' MEDICI. FROM HIS TOMB IN THE NEW SACRISTY IN THE CHURCH OF SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE GIULIANO DE MEDICI. FROM HIS TOMB IN SAN LORENZO DAY AND DAWN. FROM THE MEDICI TOMBS IN SAN LORENZO NIGHT AND TWILIGHT. FROM THE MEDICI TOMBS IN SAN LORENZO DAY AND TWILIGHT DAWN AND TWILIGHT, AND DAY AND NIGHT THE MEDICI MADONNA. IN THE NEW SACRISTY IN THE CHURCH OF SAN LORENZO, FLORENCE THE PIETA WITH NICODEMUS. IN THE CATHEDRAL IN FLORENCE BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

Though the John Taylor Johnston collec- walls, those parts-as, for example, the base of tion of renaissance casts-a superb group given the Pieta in St. Peter's-have necessarily been to the Museum over fifty years ago by its first left uncast. At such times the resulting plain president-contains most of Michelangelo's surfaces are obviously not the work of Michel- freestanding sculptures, it is far from com- angelo. All these qualifications, however, are plete. And since war, a deadly enemy of art minor ones. The casts which reveal this fas- studies, confines our action to local engage- cinating and until now unknown aspect of the ments, we cannot attempt here to deal with master's work stand as honest and substantial- Michelangelo's work as a whole. So for our il- ly accurate versions. lustrations we limit ourselves to casts found in The whole problem of Michelangelo's work the Museum, excluding from that number as a sculptor is reopened in this way. Indeed such pieces as the Bacchus and the David, with this article might well serve as an introduction which, thanks to numerous photographs, we to a new study dealing with what unique side are already familiar as sculptures completely and back views are able to tell us about his in the round. technique, style, and compositional plans. For The pieces selected for illustration are the the present, let us accept these unfamiliar as- Pieta in St. Peter's in Rome; the Madonna pects of the artist's work for what they are. If, and Child in the church of Notre Dame in as it appears, the cloth has at length been re- Bruges; the Risen Christ in the church of moved from sculptures only partially unveiled Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome; the in the past, we can feast our eyes in the excite- Moses from the Julius Tomb in the church of ment of discovery. And perhaps we shall come San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome; the two Cap- to look at the originals themselves in a some- tives in the Louvre in Paris; the several figures what new light. We may, for example, appre- from the Medici Chapel (Giuliano and Lo- ciate even more fully the monumental gran- renzo de' Medici, Day and Night, Dawn and deur of the Moses; we may find that the Giu- Twilight, the Madonna and Child) in the liano becomes quite another person than the church of San Lorenzo in Florence; and the generally unloved youth sitting high above his Pieta with Nicodemus in the cathedral of tomb in the Medici Chapel; and that the fig- Florence. ure of Night, if possible, gains in dignity. For Here a word of caution in regard to casts in only in their entirety, as we now for the first general. Some of them are better than others, time see them, is captured the full essence of for variations exist in casts, just as they do in Michelangelo's genius. prints. An earlier impression in plaster is al- As a convenient reference for those studying ways sharper than a later one. Occasionally, the illustrations, an appendix is added, giv- too, casters have taken the liberty of smooth- ing descriptions of the marbles from which the ing rough surfaces which they thought would casts were taken. There are also small photo- never be seen. And in some instances where graphs, as a reminder of how the original the bases of the figures actually touch the sculptures appear.

APPENDIX

Michelangelo made the Pieta for St. Peter's Peter's. With the construction of the new St. between and 1498 1500 on the order of Car- Peter's, it was placed about 1535 in the chapel dinal Jean de Villiers de la Grolaye, the of Santa Maria della Febbre (St. Mary of the French ambassador to the Holy See. The sculp- Fever), a title of votive significance. Since then ture's first location was in the French chapel the Pieta has often been called the Madonna of Santa Petronilla in the Old Basilica of St. della Febbre. In 1749 the group was moved to 66 MICHELANGELO: A NEW APPROACH TO HIS GENIUS

THE PIETA IN ST. PETER'S THE MEDICI MADONNA THE BRUGES MADONNA

THE LOUVRE CAPTIVES THE RISEN CHRIST THE FLORENCE PIETA its present position on the altar of the capella seum's cast is simply the work of the caster. del Crocifisso, where it is placed with its back The Bruges Madonna was made sometime directly against the wall. The bronze angels between 1500 and 1506 for the church of were probably added at the time of this last Notre Dame in Bruges by order of Flemish change of location. The lower part of the rear merchants named Mouscron. Diirer comment- side, being set against the wall, could not be ed on it as being in this church, when passing cast. The corresponding surface of the Mu- through the city in 1521. The statue was taken

67 BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

THE GIULIANO TOMB MOSES THE LORENZO TOMB to Paris during the epoch of Napoleon's con- The Risen Christ found in the church of quests but in 1815 was returned to Bruges. It Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome was now stands in a deep niche as the altarpiece of made between 1519 and 1520. A Roman, Me- the chapelle du Saint-Sacrement, where mem- tello Vari, and two friends commissioned the bers of the Mouscron family lie buried. work and presented it to the church. Two of The Dying and Heroic Captives belonging Michelangelo's assistants, Pietro Urbino and to the Louvre in Paris were made between Federigo Frizzi, put on the finishing touches, 1513 and 1516, having been originally planned but they confined their efforts to the front. for the Julius Tomb. After the design of the Only the remodeled areas are now visible, tomb had finally been settled upon without since the sculpture stands against a heavy pi- the two figures, Michelangelo gave them in laster. Later additions are the bronze halo, 1544 to his banker friend Roberto Strozzi. In drapery, and shoe. Possibly the caster may 1550 Strozzi presented them to Henry II of have slightly retouched the back sections. France, who shortly thereafter bestowed them The sculptures in the New Sacristy of the upon Constable Anne de Montmorency for church of San Lorenzo, Florence, were made his chateau at Ecouen. In 1632 they belonged at various times between 1524 and 1534. The to Cardinal de Richelieu; in the eighteenth chapel was ordered by Cardinal Giulio de' century they again became French royal prop- Medici, who in 1523 became Pope Clement erty, through this last channel eventually pass- VII. Michelangelo's sculptures (the six tomb ing to the Louvre. Since the backs have been figures and the Medici Madonna) were set in somewhat touched up by the caster, we here their present positions in the sacristy by Gior- show only the side views. gio Vasari some twenty years later, in accord- The seated Moses in the church of San ance with instructions given him by Michel- Pietro in Vincoli in Rome was made between angelo. They are all either against the walls 1513 and 1516. It was placed in its present or in niches. position in 1545 as the central feature of the The Lorenzo Tomb holds the remains of Julius Tomb, against which it stands. The Lorenzo de' Medici (1492-1519), who was lower part of the base at the back is obviously Duke of Urbino and grandson of Lorenzo the not a cast of the marble. Magnificent. Beneath the seated statue of

68 MICHELANGELO: A NEW APPROACH TO HIS GENIUS

Lorenzo are the recumbent figures of Dawn ing the original, obviously represents the work and Twilight. The lower extremity of the rear of the caster. of the base of the statue of Lorenzo represents The unfinished Pieta, or Entombment, in the caster's work. It should be noted, also, that the cathedral of Florence was made between the casts of the recumbent figures on both 1550 and 1563, the year of Michelangelo's Medici tombs are set on the sarcophagi at death. The sculptor had originally planned angles differing slightly from those of the orig- this group for his own tomb, portraying him- inal monuments. self in the figure of Nicodemus. Dissatisfied The Giuliano Tomb holds the remains of with it, however, he broke the stone and gave Giuliano de' Medici (1478-1516), who was the the fragments to Francesco Bandini. Tiberio Duke of Nemours and son of Lorenzo the Calcagni, a pupil of Michelangelo's, repaired Magnificent. Beneath the seated statue of Giu- the group for Bandini, finishing some of the liano are the recumbent figures of Day and front sections. For years the Pieta was left in Night. In completing the Giuliano, Michel- neglect in the gardens of the Bandini villa on angelo was assisted by Fra Giovanni Montor- Monte Cavallo in Rome. It was later stored soli, but judging from our photographs, the away in the basilica of San Lorenzo in Flor- assistant had little if anything to do with the ence. It was at length resurrected in 1722 by work. Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tus- The Medici Madonna fits tightly against cany, who placed it in the Florence cathedral, a plain stucco wall, and a complete cast of at the back of the main altar. Recently it has the back is therefore impossible. The surface been placed on the altar of a chapel in the tran- shown in the illustration, while approximat- sept, so that it may now be seen from all sides.

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