Nlichelangelo has been admirably charneterized 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 lIarogne style, and. to a large extent, painting as well. Thal which most im pressed them and his emitemporaries was the quality which the Italians call terribi/ifd—his stormy energy of conception, and intense dra matic, even violent action. With him this was natural, the result of his own stormy emotions; with his imitators it was mannerism. flis art is sublime rather than beautiful; its chief attribute is power. it 1101'S not condescend to win, but overwhelms by intellectual grandeur of concep tion and technical perfection of execution. It is absolutely original and unique. Evident in his earliest works, this quality predominates in (Teasingly in his art, becoming arbitrary in later life. Ile 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 lie luad, 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 design., 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, lie preferred chalk as a softer medium. To this last period belong the most celebrated examples, like the "Phaeton," ""rithy us," and "Canyinctle." drawn for Tommaso Cava lieri, the series of designs for Christ's "Cruci fixion" and "Deposition," meditative and deeply religions in mood; and the "Areieri" ("Archers." Windsor ('ollection), nude fignres of wonderful beauty and grace.
llis knowledge of anatomy is probably more neatly perfect than that of any artist since the Creeks. lie :oilfired it in long years of gent study, not only of the mule 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. 1Ie preferred to represent the human body as highly developed, and lie inclined to the male type. ills 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 the (treek., lie used the human
figure as expressive of emotion. only that with him the emotion is particular instead of general. l'nlike other Italians. he generalizes the faces, refusing, all portraiture.
'Michelangelo was essentially a sculptor, and only painted under 1».otest. In every block of marble he saw an imprisoned idea awaiting the sculptor's art to be freed. lle probably niaide previous sketches, and in his early period used the human model, but his usual method was to use only a small wax model. Unlike present-day sculptors, lie did all the work, even the rough hewing, himself. Ile finished the bodies tirst, reserving the heads for the last. In his paintings the essentially pictorial of perspective. atmosphere. and light are absent : nor was he a colorist in the Venetian sense. his erdor selienie was broadly massive and subdued, being subordinated to the human figures in Inc pie. tures. Ilis paintings are decorative in the high est sense, and in his artistic development they are of espepial importanee. because he found a more facile medium in painting than in sculpture for (lie expression of his titanic thought s. His architecture was decorative rather than eonstruetive. Ile regarded only the general effect, which lie obtained by heavy masses of light and shade, requiring of detail only a sharp and effective formation. In the cupola of Saint Peter's, however, lie created a complete constructive masterpiece, as perfect as any of the early Renaissance.
Michelangelo's poetry was valued as highly by his contemporaries as were his other artistic ac tivities. They admired especially its deep phil osophic thought. in which respect he indeed stands above the other poets of his day. Indeed. the value of his poetry is rather psychological than literary; it is often obscure and labored in expression. But when his nature was stirred by powerful emotions, it found expression in some of the most beautiful sonnets and madrigals in the Italian or any other language. Some of the very finest are dedicated to Vittoria Colonna and Tommaso Cavalie•i: these are mostly love poems. inhers, like madrigals on the loss of Florentine liberty, are patriotic in character and many are deeply religious, expressing the dignified attitude of a great soul, calmly awaiting the end.