Moses (Michelangelo)

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Moses by Michelangelo

The Moses by Michelangelo (1475–1564), created between 1513 and 1515 in Rome , is one of the most important monumental statues of the High Renaissance . The sculpture, with a height of 235 cm, is in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, it occupies a central position in the Julius tomb .

description

detail

Moses , who rests his right hand on the tablets of the law and grabs his long beard with his left hand, is portrayed by Michelangelo at the moment when he must have been shortly after his descent from Mount Sinai . After his descent, to his great displeasure, he met his people dancing around the golden calf ( Ex 32.15-20  EU ). His body turn to the left, accompanied by a grim look, suggests that Moses would stand up in the next moment in order to smash the tablets of the law on the ground in front of his people as a sign that they had broken the divine prohibition of images. The statue is dressed in a tunic and has two horns on its head. These are due to an incorrect translation of the Vulgate . The Hebrew word "qāran" קָרַן In the Latin Vulgate (radiant), instead of “coronato” (crowned), it was erroneously translated as “cornuto” (horned).

History of origin

The figure of Moses was perhaps already included in the first plans for the Julius tomb of 1505, but it was only implemented after the second draft after the death of Pope Julius II in 1513. It was probably completed in 1515, as a letter from Michelangelo dated June 16, 1515 could point to. A figure niche was apparently intended as the location for the sculpture from the start , so that the Moses was not set up visible from all sides. In the second of a total of five projects, the figure appears on the upper floor of the tomb. When the tomb was finally erected in San Pietro in Vincoli in 1545, Moses was placed in a central location in the basement.

reception

detail

Michelangelo's sculpture has given rise to various interpretations over the centuries. Giorgio Vasari's enthusiastic interpretation in the third volume of his artist biographies (Le vite dei più eccellenti architetti, pittori et scultori italiani da Cimabue insino a 'tempi nostri) is still one of the most famous descriptions of art history .

“He (Michelangelo) completed the five cubits high Moses out of marble, a statue that no modern work will ever match in beauty, as it can be said of the ancient ones. In a seated position, with an unspeakably dignified posture, he lays one arm on the tablet, which he holds in one hand, while with the other he grips his beard, which is long and flowing in marble in such a way that the Hair - which sculpture has great difficulties with - is infinitely fine, fluffy soft and reproduced with individual strands in such a way that it seems impossible how the chisel became a brush here. In its beauty the face does indeed have the charisma of a true prince, holy and powerful, which is why, while looking at it, one might almost ask for a veil to cover his face, it looks so radiant and bright. And so perfectly did he reproduce the divine radiance that God has given this most holy countenance, in addition the fabrics are perforated and finished with a beautiful hem, the arms with muscles, the hands with bones and nerve cords are executed in such beauty and perfection , also legs and knees and underneath the feet with the right footwear, yes, it is so perfect in all its parts that today more than ever, Moses can call himself a friend of God, since that his body through Michelangelo's hands long before everyone had others put together and prepared for his resurrection. "

- Giorgio Vasari

Vasari's request for the veil refers to a passage in the 2nd book of Moses ( Ex 34,33-35  EU ) and can be read as a testimony to the godlike work of Michelangelo. Just as God made the face of Moses shine and thus gave him holiness, Michelangelo, as the second Creator God, made the features of his figure shine with beauty. In his description of the sculpture, Vasari goes so far as to identify the biblical Moses with the figure created by Michelangelo. He even implies that Michelangelo surpassed the historical model by claiming that Michelangelo created the model with his figure of Moses for God that is so perfect that he will one day imitate it on the day of judgment , to be resurrected around Moses allow.

Jacob Burckhardt writes in his Cicerone :

“His (Moses) arms and hands are of a truly superhuman education in that they allow the characteristic life of these parts to be seen enhanced in a way that does not occur in reality. Everything that is merely artistic is recognized as perfect in this figure, the plastic contrasts of the parts, the treatment of everything individually. But the head will not suffice either in terms of the shape of the skull or in terms of physiognomy, and with the splendidly treated beard, which the old art has nothing similar to do with it, too many inconveniences are made; the famous left arm basically has nothing else to do than press this beard against the body. "

- Jacob Burckhardt

In his work Moses and Michelangelo from 1914, Sigmund Freud asks himself whether Michelangelo wanted to create a “timeless character and mood” in his Moses or whether he portrayed the hero in a certain, but then highly significant, moment in his life. He quotes numerous art historians and sculptors, including J. Burckhardt, Anton Springer , Heinrich Wölfflin , Dupaty , Guillaume , Müntz , Wilhelm Lübke , Ernst Steinmann , Henry Thode , Carl Justi and from the life of Michelangelo by Herman Grimm :

“A highness fills this figure, a self-confidence, a feeling as if the thunders of heaven were at this man's command, but before he unleashed it, he forced himself to see whether the enemies he wanted to destroy would dare to attack him. He sits there as if he was about to jump up, his head proudly stretched out from his shoulders, with his hand under whose arms the tablets of the law rest, grasping his beard, which sinks in heavy currents onto his chest, with his nostrils breathing wide and with a mouth on whose lips the words seem to tremble. "

- Hermann Grimm

At the end of his remarks, Freud comes to the conclusion:

“Michelangelo placed another Moses on the Pope's grave monument, which is superior to the historical or traditional Moses. He has reworked the motif of the broken tablets of the law, he does not let them break through the wrath of Moses, but rather appease this anger through the threat that it might break, or at least hinder it on the way to action. With this he has put something new, superhuman in the figure of Moses, and the enormous body mass and muscular musculature of the figure is only a physical means of expression for the highest psychological achievement that is possible for a person, for the crushing of one's own passion in favor of and on behalf a destiny to which one has dedicated oneself. "

- Sigmund Freud

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Giorgio Vasari : The Life of Michelangelo . Newly translated by Victoria Lorini. Edited, commented on and introduced by Caroline Gabbert. Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, Berlin 2009. pp. 65–67.
  2. ↑ Giorgio Vasari: The Life of Michelangelo . Pp. 298-299.
  3. ↑ Jacob Burckhardt: The Cicerone - Chapter 47
  4. ↑ Sigmund Freud: The Moses of Michelangelo (1914)
  5. ↑ Sigmund Freud: The Moses of Michelangelo (1914)

Web links

Commons : Michelangelo's Moses  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 ′ 38 "  N , 12 ° 29 ′ 35"  E