Michelangelo Buonarroti
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Britannica
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The bronze sculptor Bertoldo, a Medici friend and
in charge of the collection, was the nearest to a teacher of sculpture
he had, but Michelangelo did not follow his medium or in any major way
his approach. Still, one of the two marble works that survive from the
artist's first years is a variant on the composition of an ancient Roman
sarcophagus, and Bertoldohad produced a similar one in bronze. This
composition is the “Battle of the Centaurs” (c. 1492). The action
and power of the figures foretell the artist's later interests much more
than does the “Madonna of the Stairs” (c. 1491), a delicate low
relief that reflects recent fashions among such Florentine sculptors as
Desiderio da Settignano.
Florence was at this time regarded as the leading centre of art, producing the
best painters and sculptors in Europe, and the competition among artists was
stimulating. The city was, however, less able than earlier to offer large
commissions, and leading Florentine-born artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci and
Leonardo's teacher, Verrocchio, had moved away for better opportunities in other
cities. The Medici were overthrown in 1494, and even before the end of the
political turmoil Michelangelo had left.
In Bologna he was hired to succeed a recently deceased sculptor and
carve the last small figures required to complete a grand project, the tomb and
shrine of St. Dominic (1494–95). The three marble figures are original and
expressive. Departing from his predecessor's fanciful agility the imposed
seriousness on his images by a compactness of form that owes much to classical
antiquity and to the Florentine tradition from Giotto onward. This emphasis on
seriousness is also reflected in his choice of marble as his medium, while the
accompanying simplification of masses is in contrast to the then more usual
tendency to let representations match as completely as possible the texture and
detail of human bodies. To be sure, although these are constant qualities in
Michelangelo's art, they often are temporarily abandoned or modified because of
other factors, such as the specific functions of works or the stimulating
creations of other artists. This is the case with Michelangelo's first surviving
large statue, the “Bacchus,” produced in Rome (1496–97) following a brief
return to Florence. (A wooden crucifix, recently discovered, attributed by some
scholars to Michelangelo and now housed in the Casa Buonarroti, Florence, has
also been proposed as the antecedent of the “Bacchus” in design by those who
credit it as the artist's work.) The “Bacchus” relies on ancient Roman
nude figures as a point of departure, but it is much more mobile and more
complex in outline. The conscious instability evokes the god of wine and
Dionysiac revels with extraordinary virtuosity. Made for a garden, it is also
unique among Michelangelo's works in calling for observation from all sides
rather than primarily from the front.
