In the lower part of the two monuments of Giuliano and Lorenzo, in the chapel of the Medici, are allegorical figures of Day and Night, and the Dawn, or 31orning and Evening. They bear the impress of the master-mind and hand; but the violence of action and forced expression of these atatues are not in character, in the first place, with the repose which is appropriate to monumental sculpture, and they do not harmo nise with the figures above them. The intimate knowledge of anatomy possessed by 3lichel Angelo, and the evident mastery he had over all difficulties of execution, appear sometimes to have tempted him, as in these statues, to indulge in their display at the expense of propriety of deign.
In the Minerva Church:at Rome is a much admired statue of Christ by 31. Angelo. It has less of violence of action than usually characterises his works ; but though it has qualities of a high order, and displays great knowledge of form and skill in execution, it Is by no means one of his most successful efforts. The figure wants that (slim dignity and refinement which should pervade the representation of the divine nature under a human form. Another work of Michel Angelo, which is often referred to as a specimen of this master, is the statue of David, in the Piazza del Gran Duca at Florence. The powerful hand of the great sculptor is visible in it, and the grand air that Is k,iven to the figure by the turn and expression of the head and throat justly claim our admiration ; but it is not one of Michel Angelo's finest works. It was executed tinder very unfavourable circumstances, Buonarotti having been called upon to finish it when the block had already been worked upon by an inferior artist, and considered to be spoiled. In the gallery of Florence is a half-drunken Bacchus, also the work of this sculptor. An ancient subject, it still has the merit of being filled with 3liehel Angelo's own feeling for character and expression, but it falls short of the manner in which the Greeks would have treated it. It wants purity of taste, and the beautiful form, free from affectation or display, which the ancients knew so well how to apply in all their con ceptions. Michel Angelo in this work attempted to represent what he could not feel as a Greek sculptor would, and to this only is to be attributed its inferiority. Among the best known groups by 31 ieltel Angelo aro the Madonna and Child, in the chapel of the Medici at Florence—unfinished ; a Pieth, in a small chapel at St. Peter's at Rome; and a group of Nicodomus supporting the dead body of Christ, with the Madonna and Mary Magdalen. These, as compositions, are of the highest merit. They also abound in pathos, and are in many respects finely executed. The Dead Christ, in the Pieth, is particularly worthy of attention. The tranquillity and perfect repose of death aro most successfully shown throughout this figure, and with some slight exception (in the face and in the articulations of the joints, in which the usual exaggeration of Michel Angelo is perceptible), it must be considered one of his finest productions. His works in relief are not
very numerous. We possess in this country one in marble, of very great merit, consisting of three figures, representing the Virgin, the infant Christ, and St. John. It is unfinished, but the master is declared in the composition of the group, in the grand style of the forms, and in the bold and vigorous character of the execution. It is In the Royal Academy of Arts, having been bequeathed to that institu tion by the late Sir George Beaumont, who purchased it in Italy. There is another work very similar to this, and like this also unfinished, in the Gallery of Sculpture at Florence. In the Vatican is another of a different class. It ie an allegorical subject, and is a monument of the perfect knowledge of the human figure possessed by Michel Angelo; but it is more remarkable for this than for other qualities requisite in sculpture, namely, simplicity and unity of design. The composition is both crowded and complicated. In taking this rapid survey of some of the principal works of this master, the object has been to bring before the reader the most celebrated of his productions, in order that the accompanying observations might be immediately applied to well known examples, and the characteristics of his school be more easily understood. Notwithstanding our admiration of the originality of invention, the vigour and mental energy, the knowledge of anatomy, and mastery of execution that appear in his productions in this art, it is generally admitted that the sculpture of Michel Angelo does not give that high satisfaction which is felt in the contemplation of the best works of ancient and some even of modern times. [BuoNanoTri, MICHEL ANGELO, ill BI00. Div.] Michel Angelo has had many imitators who have had neither genius nor originality to compensate for the imperfections which are over looked or forgotten in the mighty inventions of the master-mind, and who for the most part have only been able to copy and increase the faults of his style. Michel Angelo died in 1564, and was buried in the church of Santa Croce in Florence, and a monument is over his grave in which there is a basso-rilievo, by himself, of a Madonna and Child. The design of this " deposito " consists of a bust of Michel Angelo over sarcophagus, in front, and on each' of which are statues supposed to represent Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. The bust and the statue of Sculpture are the work of Lorenzo, one of his scholars; those of Painting and-Architecture are by Valerie Cioli and Giovanni dell' Opera.