LIBRARY
UE: HUM 110CL: Giants of the Arts: Michelangelo
About Michelangelo
- MichelangeloBiography, major works and themes. From the Oxford Art online Encyclopedia.
- Michelangelo Museum onlineIncludes images, discussion, and biography
- A Journey into Michelangelo's RomeContents: Michelangelo: a man of his time -- Florence: Michelangelo and the House of Medici -- Rome: marvels in marble -- San Pietro in Vincoli: the tragedy of the tomb -- Sistine Chapel: the Pope and the painter -- Quirinal Hill: a faithful servant -- Capitoline Hill: a humanist city -- Vatican and beyond: churches of Rome -- Macel de'Corvi: "Death often tugs me."
Bio
David
La Pieta
La Pietà (Rome, St Peter’s), is considered the work that marked the turning-point in Michelangelo’s fortunes. Commissioned in 1497 by the French Cardinal Jean Villiers de La Grolais (c. 1430–99) for his own tomb, it was begun the following year and was finished by 1500. It signals the beginning of Michelangelo’s maturity as a sculptor. It shows great textural richness, a characteristic noted by Vasari in his description of the inert body of Christ. This sensitively carved surface is strongly contrasted with the unpolished textures of rock and tree stump. . . Its grace of contour is most apparent in the drapery: the tight, dampfold loincloth of Christ, the ruches and complex crinkles of Mary’s robes and the controlled but generous sweep of the shroud, which both cradles and displays Christ’s corpse. Much of the pathos of the group derives from this drapery. - Oxford Art Encyclopedia online