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Portrait of Michelangelo
14 3/8 in. x 8 3/4 in. (36.51 cm x 22.23 cm), Italian
Object Type:
Sculpture and Installations
Creation Place:
Europe, Italy
Medium and Support:
high relief Castelline marble
Credit Line:
Carleton College Art Collection, gift of James Woodward Strong, president 1870-1903
Accession Number:
1997.284
Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564) needs no introduction as one of the greatest of Italian Renaissance artists. Even more than his contemporary Leonardo, he fashioned a persona for himself as a creative genious. What do we know about Michelangelo’s appearance? He acquired a broken nose during a teenage brawl.
Michelangelo would have strongly objected to the way this seventeenth-century relief improved on his appearance. With biographer Giorgio Vasari’s help, Michelangelo used his misshapen nose to shape an image of himself as ugly creator. His ugliness made him successor to all sorts of powerful, talented, unattractive forerunners, including the philospher Socrates and his artistic forebearer, the painter Giotto.
Nineteenth-century Romantics, including those who collected such marble relief portraits as these, exalted Michelangelo as the paradigm of the hero, comparablr in stature to Dante. They consider both masters of epic form.
What of Michelangelo’s connection with Savonarola? Did these nineteenth-century collectors realize that Michelangelo counted Savonarola’s sermons next to the Bible in the power of their impact on him in old age?
Michelangelo would have strongly objected to the way this seventeenth-century relief improved on his appearance. With biographer Giorgio Vasari’s help, Michelangelo used his misshapen nose to shape an image of himself as ugly creator. His ugliness made him successor to all sorts of powerful, talented, unattractive forerunners, including the philospher Socrates and his artistic forebearer, the painter Giotto.
Nineteenth-century Romantics, including those who collected such marble relief portraits as these, exalted Michelangelo as the paradigm of the hero, comparablr in stature to Dante. They consider both masters of epic form.
What of Michelangelo’s connection with Savonarola? Did these nineteenth-century collectors realize that Michelangelo counted Savonarola’s sermons next to the Bible in the power of their impact on him in old age?
Keywords
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This object has the following keywords:
Italian*,
marble (rock)*,
portraits*,
portraits,
relief (sculpture techniques)*,
reliefs (sculptures)*,
sculpture (visual work)*,
three-dimensional*
- Italian - Refers to the culture of the modern nation of Italy, or in general to cultures that have occupied the boot-shaped Italian peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea.
- marble (rock) - A metamorphic rock, composed mostly of recrystallized calcite and/or dolomite, often irregularly colored by impurities; can also refer more broadly to any crystallized carbonate rock, including true marble and certain types of limestone, that will take a polish and can be used for architectural and ornamental purposes.
- portraits - Representations of real individuals that are intended to capture a known or supposed likeness. For representations of fictional or mythological characters, see "figures (representations)."
- portraits
- relief (sculpture techniques) - Use to describe a surface that has been carved, molded, or stamped so that an image or design projects from or is sunk into a continuous surface.
- reliefs (sculptures) - Sculptures in which the ornaments or figures are attached to a background from which they stand out to a greater or lesser degree. Reliefs are often used as architectural decoration and because of their capacity for narration they are often used for pictorial narrative purposes.
- sculpture (visual work) - Works of art in which images and forms are produced in relief, in intaglio, or in the round. It refers especially to those objects that retain the quality of being tangible objects or groups of objects. It refers particularly to art works created by carving or engraving a hard material, by molding or casting a malleable material, or by assembling parts to create a three-dimensional object. It is typically used to refer to large or medium-sized objects made of stone, wood, bronze, or another metal. Small objects are typically referred to as "carvings." As works become more diffused in space or time, or less tangible, use specific terms, such as "mail art" or "environmental art."
- three-dimensional - Having, or appearing to have, the three dimensions of length, width, and height.
Dimensions
- overall Dimensions: 14 3/8 x 8 3/4 in. (365 x 222 mm)