| Rebellious Slave | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Michelangelo |
| Year | 1513 |
| Type | sculpture |
| Medium | Marble |
| Dimensions | 215 cm (85 in) |
| Location | Louvre, Paris |
| Preceded by | Moses (Michelangelo) |
| Followed by | Dying Slave |
The Rebellious Slave is a 2.15m high marble statue by Michelangelo, dated to 1513. It is now held in the Louvre in Paris.
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Transcription
STEVEN ZUCKER: We're in the Musee du Louvre, and we're looking at Michelangelo's "Two Slaves." These were originally intended for Pope Julius II's tomb, and they date from 1513 to 1515. BETH HARRIS: So Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to sculpt his tomb. The original plans were for a very elaborate tomb with more than 40 figures. Michelangelo was pulled off to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Then the tomb was redesigned. And there were three figures made for this next version of the tomb-- the two slaves that we see here together with Moses, who is actually on the current version of the tomb, which is in San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome. These two figures were not needed for that final version, and so here they are in the Louvre. STEVEN ZUCKER: Immediately I start to try to imagine what these figures would look like with the Moses, which is this extraordinarily powerful figure, but interestingly, is seated, whereas these figures are ineffectual, and yet they're standing. They're vertical. BETH HARRIS: The figure known as "The Dying Slave--" and of course, these aren't titles that Michelangelo gave them, but titles-- STEVEN ZUCKER: Right, they're later attributed titles. BETH HARRIS: --that they acquired-- is a very internalized figure. His eyes are closed. He seems to be in a trance-like state. He seems to be in another place, compared to the figure known as "The Bound Slave" that struggles against the ties that bind him and seems to look upward toward God. There's a Neoplatonic interpretation of these figures, struggling to be free from the earthly realm and struggling to be one with God. STEVEN ZUCKER: He does allow those figures to remain bound to the stone, bound to the rock. And this is a really interesting aspect of Michelangelo's sculpture. He's willing to allow the raw stone to remain visible. BETH HARRIS: And Michelangelo talked about how when he looked at a block of marble, he saw a figure struggling to be free from within that marble. The figure of "The Bound Slave" is bound up in himself. His body is really twisted in a serpentine position that's different from "The Dying Slave." STEVEN ZUCKER: It's also that his actual anatomy is heavier. His muscles are larger. He's a more mature figure. BETH HARRIS: That makes that journey to transcend even more powerful. If you look at the muscles of the arms, they're not as athletically perfect. And his proportions are wider. STEVEN ZUCKER: They are. And he's actually distorting his own body. The way that arm that you mentioned just a moment ago actually presses against his side actually sort of pushes it out and creates a kind of distortion. BETH HARRIS: And the face is wider. It's more unfinished. And the head moves in an almost painful way, up and back in the opposite way that the shoulders move. And then the shoulders move in the opposite direction of the hips. If you think about how expressive the body becomes under Michelangelo, this is the best example. STEVEN ZUCKER: Looking at these sculptures for just a moment, even though there's raw stone still attached to them, you begin to forget very quickly that this is something that was once a block of marble. BETH HARRIS: Yeah.
History
The two "slaves" of the Louvre date to the second version of the tomb of Pope Julius II which was commissioned by the Pope's heirs, the Della Rovere in May 1513. Although the initial plans for a gigantic mausoleum were set aside, the work was still monumental, with a corridor richly decorated with sculpture and Michelangelo was immediately put in charge of the work. Among the first pieces completed were the two Prigioni (renamed the "slaves" only in the nineteenth century), destined for the lower part of the funerary monument, next to the pilasters which framed the niches containing the Victories. Their poses were determined by the needs of this architectural setting, so from the front they have great effect, but the side views received less care than usual.
The date of the two statues is confirmed by a letter of Michelangelo to Marcello dei Covi, in which he speaks of a viewing by Luca Signorelli in his Roman house, while he worked on "a figure of marble, standing four cubits high, which has its hands behind its back".
All the Prigioni produced in the studio of the artist were eliminated from the monument in its final version, completed in 1542. In 1546 Michelangelo gave the two works in the Louvre to Roberto Strozzi, for his generous hospitality in his Roman house during Michelangelo's periods of sickness in July 1544 and June 1546. When Strozzi was exiled to Lyon in April 1550 for his opposition to Cosimo I de' Medici, he had the two statues sent ahead. In April 1578 they were put on view in two niches in the courtyard of the castle of the constable of Montmorency at Écouen, near Paris.
In 1632 they were sold by Henri II de Montmorency to Cardinal Richelieu, who had them sent to his Château in Poitou, where they were seen by Gianlorenzo Bernini who made an illustration of them, on his travels.
In 1749, the Duke of Richelieu had them taken to Paris and placed in the Pavillon de Hanovre. They were hidden in 1793, but when the widow of the last Marshal of Richelieu attempted to put them on sale, they became property of the government and joined the collection which is now in the Louvre.
Description and style
The "Rebellious Slave" is portrayed trying to free himself from the fetters which hold his hands behind his back, contorting his torso and twisting his head. The impression given, which would have contributed to the spatial appearance of the monument, was that he was moving towards the viewer, with his raised shoulder and knee.
The iconographic significance of the two figures is probably linked to the motif of the Captive in Roman art; in fact Giorgio Vasari identified them as personifications of the provinces controlled by Julius II. For Ascanio Condivi, however, they symbolised the Arts taken prisoner after the death of pontif. The Rebellious Slave in particular might, speculatively, represent sculpture or architecture. Other meanings of a symbolic and philosophical nature have been suggested as well as some linked to Michelangelo's personal life and his "torments".
From a stylistic point of view, they are based on ancient models, particularly Hellenistic sculpture, like the statue group of Laocoön and His Sons, discovered in 1506 and at that time in Michelangelo's possession, but also the sculptural friezes on the triumphal arches of Rome and depictions of Saint Sebastian.
Bibliography
- Umberto Baldini. Michelangelo scultore. Rizzoli, Milano 1973.
- Marta Alvarez Gonzáles. Michelangelo. Mondadori Arte, Milano 2007. ISBN 978-88-370-6434-1
See also
External links
Media related to Michelangelo's Rebellious Slave, Louvre at Wikimedia Commons- Page on the Louvre's official site
This page was last edited on 1 April 2024, at 00:46