![]() Only few would have accepted the idea of a good job pinched away, even if our thirty years young man from Florence was already famous for his Pietà and for the amazing David, completed only one year before. Once he came back to Rome, he found a hostile atmosphere stirred up by the court artists, principally by the Bramante. He stayed there for eight months to choose the more appropriate marbles, an eternity even in those days, but Buonarroti was a fussy perfectionist. So, he was called to fulfil the project of creating a monumental mausoleum for the Pope himself, they shortly found an agreement and once Michelangelo received a substantial down payment, he went to Carrara to choose personally every single piece of the Statuario marble for the work. Mondadori Arte, Milano 2007.In 1505, Pope Julius II called him in Rome, from that moment on, until the death of the Pope their relationship was characterized by resentments, disagreements, arguments, discussions and even furious altercations but they definitely had respect for each other’s abilities. ![]() Other meanings of a symbolic and philosophical nature have been suggested as well as some linked to Michelangelo's personal life and his "torments".įrom a stylistic point of view, they are based on ancient models, particularly Hellenistic sculpture, like the statue group of Laocoön and His Sons, discovered in 1506 and at that time in Michelangelo's possession, but also the sculptural friezes on the triumphal arches of Rome and depictions of Saint Sebastian. The Rebellious Slave in particular might, speculatively, represent sculpture or architecture. For Ascanio Condivi, however, they symbolised the Arts taken prisoner after the death of pontif. The iconographic significance of the two figures is probably linked to the motif of the Captive in Roman art in fact Giorgio Vasari identified them as personifications of the provinces controlled by Julius II. The impression given, which would have contributed to the spatial appearance of the monument, was that he was moving towards the viewer, with his raised shoulder and knee. The "Rebellious Slave" is portrayed trying to free himself from the fetters which hold his hands behind his back, contorting his torso and twisting his head. They were hidden in 1793, but when the widow of the last Marshal of Richelieu attempted to put them on sale, they became property of the government and joined the collection which is now in the Louvre. In 1749, the Duke of Richelieu had them taken to Paris and placed in the Pavillon de Hanovre. In 1632 they were sold by Henri II de Montmorency to Cardinal Richelieu, who had them sent to his Château in Poitou, where they were seen by Gianlorenzo Bernini who made an illustration of them, on his travels. In April 1578 they were put on view in two niches in the courtyard of the castle of the constable of Montmorency at Écouen, near Paris. When Strozzi was exiled to Lyon in April 1550 for his opposition to Cosimo I de' Medici, he had the two statues sent ahead. In 1546 Michelangelo gave the two works in the Louvre to Roberto Strozzi, for his generous hospitality in his Roman house during Michelangelo's periods of sickness in July 1544 and June 1546. The date of the two statues is confirmed by a letter of Michelangelo to Marcello dei Covi, in which he speaks of a viewing by Luca Signorelli in his Roman house, while he worked on "a figure of marble, standing four cubits high, which has its hands behind its back".Īll the Prigioni produced in the studio of the artist were eliminated from the monument in its final version, completed in 1542. Their poses were determined by the needs of this architectural setting, so from the front they have great effect, but the side views received less care than usual. Among the first pieces completed were the two Prigioni (renamed the "slaves" only in the nineteenth century), destined for the lower part of the funerary monument, next to the pilasters which framed the niches containing the Victories. Although the initial plans for a gigantic mausoleum were set aside, the work was still monumental, with a corridor richly decorated with sculpture and Michelangelo was immediately put in charge of the work. The two "slaves" of the Louvre date to the second version of the tomb of Pope Julius II which was commissioned by the Pope's heirs, the Della Rovere in May 1513. ![]() The Rebellious Slave is a 2.15m high marble statue by Michelangelo, dated to 1513.
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