Il pensieroso di michelangelo biography

The statue of Lorenzo de Medici is the central figure on the tomb erected to the memory of this prince. He was the rather unworthy namesake of his illustrious grandfather, who was known as Lorenzo the Magnificent.

Il pensieroso di michelangelo biography pdf In a book entitled The Fifteenth-Century Painting , its German authors mention the likeness between the images of Venus and the Madonna in Botticelli's works. The Last Judgment. Nome utente o email. Michelangelo had not added it, as Irving Stone wrote, merely to emphasize the naked beauty of her bosom; or, as Panofsky believed, to be a symbol of virginity.

The Medici family was for many generations the richest and most powerful in Florence. They were originally merchants, and, as the name signifies, physicians, and, accumulating great wealth, they became powerful leaders, and really the rulers of the republic.

Some of them were munificent patrons of art and literature. There was one named Cosimo, who did so much to make his city famous that he was called Pater Patriae, the father of the country His grandson Lorenzo won the title of the Magnificent for his lavish generosity and superb plans for the advancement of art and learning.

So much power could not safely be in the hands of a single family.

Il pensieroso di michelangelo biography Edith Balas brings her attention to Vasari's remark that in the first project of Medici Tombs there was a mention of Cybele — a mother goddess of Phrygia and Asia Minor, known since antiquity. Still, Lorenzo the Magnificent was also celebrated as a winner of many a jousting tournament. Statues of many Indian gods have their own vahanas for the same purpose, but Ganesha because of his elephantine head is easily recognisable anyway. In his drawings, Michelangelo not only demonstrates his interest for the images dear to Botticelli, but also expresses a desire to compare his models with Botticelli's legendary model, which posed for his The Birth of Venus , — the then reigning beauty of Florence and the bereaved amante of Giuliano Medici.

The Medici, from being benefactors, finally became tyrants.

The Lorenzo of this statue was one of the more insignificant members of the family. In Leo united him in marriage to a French princess, and their daughter was the afterwards celebrated Catharine de' Medici, queen of the French king, Henry II. These are the main facts in the life of a man who is remembered only because he had illustrious ancestors, a famous daughter, and a superb tomb.

It mattered nothing to Michelangelo that he had so poor a subject for a statue.

Il pensieroso di michelangelo biography summary At the same time, Michelangelo had effortlessly drawn an accurate sketch of his plan of the Laurentian Library's principal staircase. We can easily pardon some gaps in Condivi's memory, or maybe, which is more likely, the elderly Michelangelo just did not wish to disclose to the young man all he that had had in mind concerning the Medici Chapel. Is it possible that Michelangelo had intentionally hidden the nose of a lion by placing it up high and by putting the murine mouth into natural shadow? Michelangelo was making his ideas real in a situation when he had to conceal his true intentions from the project's patrons — Pope Clement VII and, later, from Pope's heirs.

It is supposed that he made no attempt at correct portraiture in the figure. The insignificant Lorenzo was transformed by the magic of his genius into a hero.

He wears a suit of Roman armor, in accordance with his career as a general in the wars with the Duke of Urbino, whose title he took. His helmet is pulled well forward over the brow, the head is bent, the cheek rests upon the left hand, the elbow supported on a casket placed on the knee.

Il pensieroso di michelangelo biography wikipedia Probably, mongoose was considered to be a some kind of rat. Some scholars have already pointed at its digression from the European tradition of sepulchral sculpture that had existed before Michelangelo. This is the crucial proof that on the statue of Lorenzo we see the mouse exactly as it was conceived and carved by Michelangelo. This is because we find these two animals quite similar, especially when it comes to the shapes of their heads.

With finger laid thoughtfully upon the lips, he is thinking intently. The right hand rests, palm out, against the knee in a characteristic position of inaction.

His mood is not that of a dreamer lost to his present surroundings. Rather he seems to be keenly aware of what is going on; his meditations have to do with the present. It is as if, having given an order, he awaits its execution, his mind still intent upon his purposes, satisfied with his decision, and calmly expectant of its success.