Saint Peter's Basilica, Moses for Tomb of Julius II, result 1 of 1

Saint Peter's Basilica, Moses for Tomb of Julius II

Sculpture; Photographs

Italy, Rome

black and white photography

26.1 x 20.1 cm

There is a blank margin along the bottom of the print

In 1505 Michelangelo was called to Rome by Pope Julius II to plan a magnificent tomb for Saint Peter's. By 1506 he was making drawings preparatory to painting the vault of the Sistine Chapel (Rome, Vatican), also for Julius. This seemingly perfect match between an ambitious pontiff and an ambitious artist was disastrous for Michelangelo's career in one respect: until 1545 his life was dominated by repeated failures to complete the Julian monument. What Michelangelo and Julius proposed was a free-standing, three-storey monument, covering an area of over 70 square meters. It has been calculated that 47 figures would have been required for the tomb. Marble arrived for the gigantic mausoleum, and he was eager to begin work, but Julius unaccountably cooled towards the project. After the first of a series of disputes with the Pope, Michelangelo fled to Florence. Following the Pope's death in February 1513, he signed a second contract with Julius's executors for a reduced version of the tomb to be completed within seven years. For this scheme he began the Moses as well as the figures known as the Dying Captive and the Rebellious Captive. A third contract for a still smaller Julian monument had been drawn up in 1516, for which he probably began the four Slaves. Assessment of the Moses is further complicated by the fact that it is not in the position for which it was planned. Originally designed to stand some 13 feet above the ground, the statue was incorporated in the central recess of the finished tomb of 1545, only a few feet above floor-level. There are indications that most of the statue had been completed before it was decided to change the intended location. It has been observed that the figure's exaggeratedly long waist and withdrawn left leg would have enabled a viewer below to see the gesture made by the left arm. The Moses was planned as a corner figure standing free of the architecture and offering a number of subsidiary views. Yet the placement of the statue was Michelangelo's decision. Indeed the effect of confinement was even greater originally, when he set the work further back in the recess. (It was moved forward in 1816 when a cast was taken from it.)Grove Dictionary of ArtThere is a blank margin along the bottom of the print.

Washington University (Saint Louis, Mo.) Art & Architecture Library

1962

Volume 17: Rome/Florence Page 24

albumen paper

Number assigned by photographer or print studio

lower center, in black: 1962 ROMA Moses Michelangelo - S Pietro in Vincoli