Michelangelo the Sculptor

It should very apparent from lecture that Michelangelo is my favorite Renaissance artist (what am I saying, he's my favorite artist of them all!). His family's traditions in stonework led him to the art of sculpting. One of his earliest free-standing works was the Bacchus (two images immediately above at left)--which originally stood in Rome, but now resides in Florence. His "Pieta" (above left), like the "Bacchus," are from the artist's early period. Note the remarkable detail in the folds of the fabric and the face of the Virgin Mary. The statue is part of the collections of the Vatican. The "David" (two images above right) has often been described as the finest piece of free-standing sculpture in the world. The original is now indoors, while a copy has occupied the original site in the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence since the early 20th Century. This is the statue upon which Michelangelo is working in the da Vinci clip below. The brief clip has cheesy music, but the point of the role of "sel-confidence" in the Italian Renaissance is well-made.