For the sake of argument, I am firmly excluding Michelangelo’s other most famous sculpture, his Pieta, which is located today in St. I want to be clear here and note that when I talk about Michelangelo's women, particularly these quote unquote “badly” rendered subjects, I am talking mainly of his nude women, or those with large portions of their skin revealed- especially their arms, shoulders, chests, and backs. For someone who could visualize masculine corporeality so wonderfully, Michelangelo looks almost inept when it comes to his presentation of women. Not so much, or at least not to our 21st century eyes, trained on photo realism or, really, just photos. Artists’ biographer and fervent admirer of Michelangelo's, Giorgio Vasari, extolled that sculpture’s perfection in an essay in 1550, writing quote, “For in it may be seen most beautiful contours of legs, with attachments of limbs and slender outlines of flanks that are divine nor has there ever been seen a pose so easy, or any grace to equal that in this work, or feet, hands and head so well in accord, one member with another, in harmony, design, and excellence of artistry.” And when you see David in person, you agree- Michelangelo could really create the perfect man out of stone or pigment.īut the perfect woman? Well, no. People have been waxing poetic about his sculpture of David for hundreds of years. Peter's Basilica in Rome, he was a poet who has written lyrical sonnets, he could paint gorgeously, and his sculptures are some of the most perfect ever created. He could create vast architectural monuments such as the square in front of St. That man, like his fellow renaissance man Leonardo, could really do anything. Michelangelo is arguably one of the greatest artists of all time. There- now that we have gotten that out of the way, let's get on to the artist himself. I want to take a quick moment before we jump into today's episode to note something to you, and that's this- I am going to be slightly annoying and pronounce the artist's name in the Italianate way- Michelangelo - instead of the Americanized version of Michelangelo- partially because it was metaphorically beaten out of me in grad school, but also because Michelangelo, for me, will always be a ninja turtle. Exploring the unexpected, the slightly odd, and the strangely wonderful in Art History, this is the ArtCurious Podcast. And today, we are going to uncover the conundrum of Michelangelo's women and some theories behind their design, including one fascinating hypothesis set aside by a 21st century physician. Art History is full of murder, intrigue, feisty women, rebellious men, crime, insanity, and so much more. But sometimes, the stories behind those paintings, sculptures, drawings and photographs are weirder, crazier, or more fun than you can imagine. They might remember childhood field trips to museums stuffed with cranky old women, deathly silent galleries, and dusty golden frames hanging on the wall. Some people think that visual art is dry, boring, lifeless. The thing looks almost tacked on, like a misshapen afterthought. And then… There's the problem of Night’s left breast. But when stripped down, many of them look very, very muscular and almost manly. Michelangelo's ladies have the most beautiful, angelically pure faces. The Cumaen Sibyl has bigger guns than most pro athletes, and Night’s got a six pack and quads so large that it looks like she spends her down time on the elliptical. The colossal sibyls and Old Testament heroines that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel in Rome, for example, and his marble personification of Night on the tomb of Giuliano de Medici in Florence have many of the same attributes. Why… are Michelangelo’s women so… Well, so un-womanly? Visitors straining their necks to stare up at a ceiling, and others sneaking peeks at gleaming marble tombs have asked this question. It's a question that I have personally heard asked point-blank in class and whispered in sacred spaces in Rome and in Florence. What is art, really, and how can you define it? Why is the Mona Lisa smiling? What happened to the Winged Victory’s arms? And then there's another one that you'll hear, or that you'll even think yourself, especially if you are a fan or scholar of a particular Renaissance master's works. There are lots of questions that come up in every art history classroom or lecture hall.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |