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Michelangelo (1475-1564) Home Michelangelo l Early Life in Florence l First Roman Sojourn l First Return to Florence The Sistine Chapel Ceiling l The Tomb of Julius II l The Laurentian Library l The Medici Tombs The Last Judgment l The Campidoglio l Dome of St. Peter's Basilica Michelangelo's Achievements The Tomb of Julius II Before the assignment of the Sistine ceiling in 1505, Michelangelo had been commissioned by Julius II to produce his tomb, which was planned to be the most magnificent of Christian times. It was to be located in the new Basilica of St. Peter's, then under construction. Michelangelo enthusiastically went ahead with this challenging project, which was to include more than 40 figures, spending months in the quarries to obtain the necessary Carrara marble. Due to a mounting shortage of money, however, the pope ordered him to put aside the tomb project in favor of painting the Sistine ceiling. When Michelangelo went back to work on the tomb, he redesigned it on a much more modest scale. Nevertheless, Michelangelo made some of his finest sculpture for the Julius Tomb, including the Moses (circa 1515), the central figure in the much reduced monument now located in Rome's church of San Pietro in Vincoli. The muscular patriarch sits alertly in a shallow niche, holding the tablets of the Ten Commandments, his long beard entwined in his powerful hands. He looks off into the distance as if communicating with God. Two other superb statues, the Bound Slave and the Dying Slave (both c. 1510-13), Musée du Louvre, Paris, demonstrate Michelangelo's approach to carving. He conceived of the figure as being imprisoned in the block. By removing the excess stone, the form was released. Here, as is frequently the case with his sculpture, Michelangelo left the statues unfinished (non-finito), either because he was satisfied with them as is, or because he no longer planned to use them. Study for "The Colonna Pietà", Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston  click on image to enlarge

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