The genius of Michelangelo was eminently statuesque. The figures in his paintings stand out boldly from their backgrounds with a solidity and a massiveness that belong to sculpturesque methods. On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel those athletic nude figures which he has placed in every variety of posture op the architectural framework (p1. 32, 4-6) call at once to mind his statues of slaves and the reclining figures of the Medici monuments. Michelangelo put far more of his own person ality into his art than his great predecessor, Donatello; he was also far less refined and quiet. There was about him an exuberance of life and strength that degenerated in his followers into exaggerated anatomy and grossness, which he alone with the eye of genius knew how to avoid.
Jlcdici ,11onuments. —Of 1\Iichelangelo's two famous monuments to Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici, the latter is reproduced on Plate 23 (jig. 7). Lorenzo is seated above, absorbed in thought, resting his head upon his left arm; lie has been termed " I1 Pensieroso." At his feet, on either side, are two recumbent statues, male and female, intended to represent Morning and Evening; one is just awaking to action, the other is on the point of sinking to rest. Though full of a careful study of anatomy and impressive with the mastery of the human form, these figures produce a powerful effect through the deep thought which they manifestly express.
Statue of more impressive is the famous colossal statue of Moses (fig. S), now in S. Pietro in Vincoli, in Rome, which was originally designed by Michelangelo to form part of the magnificent tomb of Pope Julius II. The Jewish lawgiver, with his seerlike eye gazing into the far-off distance, sits holding the tables of the law. His flowing beard, partly held by his right hand, reaches below his waist, and from his fore head spring the two flames of inspiration.
BC/17r1111i0 —After Michelangelo there arose but few sculptors of note in Italy. Benvenuto Cellini (15oo-1569) occupied himself mainly
with small metal sculpture, but deserves to be mentioned here on account of his remarkable talent, which was highly appreciated by the Italian popes and princes. His Salt-cellar (pi 26, fig. 51 in the Ambras collection, now at Vienna, is of appropriate and pleasing design. The figures repre senting Sea and Earth—he reclining on a marine animal, while she is rest ing upon an elephant's head—symbolize that salt is a product of both sea and land. The salt-cellar, shaped like a ship, is surrounded by waves and sea-monsters, and rests upon a stand of ebony covered with reliefs in gold.
Cioz-anni most important sculptor of the last half of the sixteenth century was Giovanni da Bologna (1524-160S), who personifies the late Renaissance in its less extravagant form. There is in his works none of the simplicity of the fifteenth century or of the strength of Michel angelo. IIis gracefulness is flowery and his beauty somewhat meretricious. Sonie of his best works are executed in bronze, like the bronze doors at Loreto and the statue of Mercury with which all the world is so familiar (tv. 23, 9). The messenger of the gods is represented flying through the air in his descent to earth, and the wings on his cap and feet are sym bols of his fleetness.
J rn i. —Still later, in the seventeenth century, the ultimate develop ment is reached by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (159S–r6So), whose style is a mixture of extravagance and artificiality; unable to express thought, he had recourse to violent material effects. The style of which he is the most notable representative is called " Barocco." The group in Figure to is one of his best works, though even here we can see how little he understood the proper domain of sculpture. It represents Apollo pursuing Daphne, who, according to the legend, was changed into a laurel tree. The transformation is here on the point of taking place.