Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/480

MICHELANGELO BUONAKROTI. 430 MICHELANGELO BUONAEBOTI. a nninl)pr of graiiil designs for tlie Church of the Florentiucs at Koine, and one for the well-known staircase of the Laurcntian Library, Florence, which was carried out by Vasari. Finally, his plans were followed in the new fortifications of Rome. The latter part of Jlichelangelo's life was dominated by deep religious feeling, which found expression in his drawings and poetry, besides the grand religious paintings and works of archi- tecture upon which he was engaged. Of wonder- ful pathos and deep religious feeling is the un- finished sculptured group, the "Deposition from the Cross," which now stands behind the high altar in the Cathedral of Florence. But the Florentine patriot was revealed in his bust of Brutus ( Museo Xazionale), carved when Duke Alessandro was assassinated by Lorenzino in 1530. Though living almost like a hermit, Jlichelangelo received cvei-y honor that could conic to an artist. Under successive popes he ■was chief architect, painter, and sculptor of the Vatican; he was nia»le bead of the new Academy of Florence. Popes, kings, and princes sought the honor of a work by his hand. He died Feb- ruary 18, 1504. His body was conveyed secretly from Rome and biirieil at Santa Croce. the Pantheon of Florence. His house in Florence was left by the last surviving member of the family to the city, and is now used as a museum of his works, containing the family archives. In appearance he was of medium height and broad-sliouldered ; he ha<l a large head, with broad forehead and prutruding temples, small eyes, and a nose disligund by a fist blow of Torrigiano, a fellow pupil in the iledici Gardens. He was of a nol)le and generous character. If lovingly treated, any favors could be obtained from him: but if treated otherwise, not even the popes could influence him. Some of his most eharming traits were his devotion to his family; his oI)edience and humility toward his father, a querulous and whimsical man; and his kindness to his greedy brothers. He was kind and gentle to his dependents, and fair in liis juilgment of other artists; but if he thought himself ridiculed his tongue could be sharp enough. The sad experiences of a highly sensitive nature tended to make him increasingly suspicious and irrita- ble. Nevertheless, he remained charitable and generous, and he was scrupulously honest at a time when this was a virtue exceedingly rare. Xo biograpliy of Michelangelo could omit men- tion of the beautiful frien<lships which fcu'iiied the chief joy of his declining years. Chief among these was his friendship for Vittori.a Colonna. The popular idea, which sees in this noble old lady the artist's Juliet, is quite erroneous, for their relation was based on a common love of literature and art and common religious views. Tn Cavalieri, a handsome and accomplished young Roman nobleman, as in other young friends, he saw an idealization of youthful heauty. Michelangelo has been admirably characterized by Burkhardt as the "Man of Destiny' in the arts. Never in history were they so dominated by a single personality. For centuries the forms which he originated dominated architecture and sculpture, as the Mnro(|ue style, and. to a large extent, painting as well. That which most im- pressed them and his contemporaries was the quality which the Italians call l<rribilitd — his stormy energj- of conception, and intense dra- matic, even violent action. With hiui this was natural, the result of his own stormy emotions; with his imitators it was mannerism. His art is sublime rather than beautiful ; its chief attribute is power. It does not condescend to win, but overuhclms by intellectual grandeur of concep- tion and technical perfecticm of execution. It is absolutely original and unique. Evident in his earliest works, this (lualily predominates in- creasingly in his art, becoming arbitrarj' in later life. He is a destroyer of traditions, a creator of new types. Such an artist cannot be said to belong to any school ; he stands apart in a class for himself. lie had. perhaps, the most perfect command of line of any artist of whom we know. For his own works, as well as independent of them, he drew great numbers of designs, sometimes as many as a dozen heads to evolve an ideal type. Nearly all the chief galleries of Europe possess specimens of these drawings. In early life the pen was his favorite instrument; but later, when he relied more upon memory, he (ireferred chalk as a softer medium. To this last period belong the most celel)rated examples, like the "Phaeton," "Tithy- tis," and "Ganymede," drawn for Tommaso Cava- lieri, the series of designs for Christ's "Cruci- fixion" and "Deposition," meditative and deeply religious in mood; and the "Arcieri" ("Archers," Windsor Collection), nude figures of wonderful beauty and grace. His knowledge of anatomy is prob.ably more nearly perfect than that of any artist since the (ireeks. He ac'quired it in long years of dili- gent study, not only of the nude model and of classic sculpture, but through use of the dis- secting knife in a laboratory furnished by his enlightened friend, the Prior of Santo Spirito. in Florence. He preferred to represent the human body as highly developed, and he inclined to the male type. His women, likewise of high develop- ment, are mostly types of middle life, although he created a few youthful examples of rare beauty, like the "Delphic Sibyl" and the "Madonna of Bruges." Like tlie (Jreeks. he used the human figure as expressive of emotion, only that with him the emotion is particular instead of general. I'nlike other Italians, he generalizes the faces, refusing all portraiture. Michelangelo was essentially a sculptor, and only painted under protest. In every block of marble he saw an imprisoned idea awaiting the sculptor's art to be freed, lie prob.ibly made jirevious sketches, and in bis early perioil used the human model, but his usuiil method was to use only a small wax model. I'nlike present-day sculptors, he did all the work, even the rough- hewing, himself. He finished the bixlies first, reserving the heads for the hist. In his paintings the essentially pictorial qualities of perspective, atmosphere, and light are absent; nor was he a colorist in the Venetian sense. His color scheme was broadly massive and subdueil, being subordinated to the human figures in his pic- tures. His paintings are decorative in the high- est sense, and in his artistic development they are of especial importance, because he found ft more facile meiliiini in painting than in sculpture for the expression of his titanic thought.s. His architecture was decorative rather than constructive. He regarded only the general effect, which he obtained by heavy masses