Returning to Florence, after "David", Michelangelo created the so-called "Madonna of Bruges" a small (1.27 m high) sculptural group of the Madonna and Child, finishing it in 1504. Subsequently, the statue ended up in the Notre Dame Church in the Dutch city of Bruges.
By type, this young, gentle, thoughtful Madonna resembles Madonna "Lamentations of Christ" from St. Peter's Cathedral. However, on this basin, the sculptor sculpted a more traditional composition, depicting Jesus in the form of a Child. In this modest work, which reveals a line of images in Michelangelo’s work, marked by features of a peculiar lyricism, Madonna herself is especially attractive, in which classical beauty and inner strength personalities are combined with soft poetry and nobility. You can feel the hand of the master who sculpted the Roman "Pieta".
The Madonna and Child from Bruges is one of Michelangelo's most beautiful and spiritual Madonnas. A sad woman, chosen and doomed, she foresees her son's suffering on the cross. Her gaze is directed into the distance, an expression of inescapable sadness is frozen on her face. The Baby, cheerful and inquisitive, with a large curly head, evokes completely different feelings. With her childish spontaneity and serenity, she seems to emphasize the immensity of her mother’s future grief.
“That’s why she resisted, did not want to let go of this beautiful, strong and agile boy, who grabbed her protecting hand with his little hand. And that’s why she covered her son with the edge of her cloak. The boy, sensing his mother’s mood, also had sadness hidden in his eyes. He was full of strength and courage, soon he would jump off his mother’s lap and leave this safe refuge, but now, at this moment, he grabbed his mother’s hand with one hand and pressed the other to her thigh. Perhaps he is thinking now about her, about his mother, saddened by the inevitable separation: her son, so trustingly clinging to his knees, will soon wander alone in the world.” Stone Irving.
The Virgin Mary turned out to be alive and believable, tender and pure. One moment more, and the eyelids will tremble, the hand will pick up the child, the chest will inhale. She is alive, she feels. The master no longer idealized Mary’s face, as in early works. Having created the Roman “Pieta” and “David”, he is looking for feeling, believability: modest clothes with flowing folds outline the strong body of a young mother, a face with heavy eyelids from unshed tears, a long nose, Thick hair in a simple hairstyle, covered with a heavy hood, as this piece recalls the Pietà. The baby's body, although childish, gives a feeling of hidden power, but is childishly cute - plump cheeks and chin, curly head. At his mother’s knees, holding her hand, he feels protected and ready to explore the world. The position of the bodies of the sculptural group is very natural - what could be more plausible than the Mother and Child from Bruges?
David (1501-1504)
“Some of his friends wrote to him from Florence asking him to come there, because the marble that lay spoiled in the care of the cathedral should not be missed. This marble, Pier Soderini, then appointed gonfaloniere for life of the city, repeatedly offered to transport Leonardo da Vinci, and was now going to hand it over to the master Andrea Contucci of Monte Sansovino, an excellent sculptor who sought it; Michelangelo, who had taken a liking to it many years ago, tried to get it upon his arrival in Florence, although it was difficult to carve a whole statue out of it without adding pieces, and no one but him had the courage to finish it without such additions. Unfortunately, a certain master Simone of Fiesole began to carve a giant from this marble, nine braccia in size, and did it so badly that he made a hole between his legs and ruined and mutilated everything so that the trustees of Santa Maria del Fiore, who were in charge of the work, did not think about it. They gave up on how to complete it, and so it stood for many years and continued to stand. Michelangelo measured it anew, thinking about what kind of sensible statue could be carved from this block, and, having adapted to the pose that Master Simone, who had ruined it, had given it, he decided to beg it from the trustees and Soderini, who gave it to him as a thing unnecessary, believing that whatever he did to her would be better than that the state in which it was then, because if you break it into pieces or leave it in a damaged state, it will still be of no use for construction. Therefore, Michelangelo fashioned a model in wax, planning to depict in it, as a palace emblem, young David with a sling in his hand, so that, just as David defended his people and ruled them justly, the rulers of this city would courageously defend them and rule them justly. He began work in the trusteeship of Santa Maria del Fiore, where he fenced off a space around the block against the wall and, working on it incessantly so that no one could see it, he brought the marble to the last perfection.
The marble had already been damaged and mutilated by Master Simone, and in some places there was not enough of it to enable Michelangelo to do what he intended; on the. on the surface of the marble he had to leave the first cuts of Master Simone, so that even now some of them are visible, and, of course, Michelangelo performed a real miracle, reviving what was dead.
Upon completion, the statue turned out to be so huge that debate began about how to deliver it to the Piazza della Signoria. And then Giuliano da Sangallo and his brother Antonio built a very strong wooden tower, from which they hung the statue on ropes so that when pushed it would not be damaged, but would sway evenly; they dragged it on ropes using winches along smooth logs and, moving it, put it in place. The rope loop on which the statue hung slid very easily and tightened under the pressure of gravity: it was invented so beautifully and ingeniously that I keep my own drawing in our Book as something wonderful, reliable and durable for tying weights together.
Meanwhile, it so happened that Pier Soderini, looking up at the statue, which he liked very much, said to Michelangelo, who at that time was finishing it here and there, that, in his opinion, its nose was large:
Michelangelo, noticing that the Gonfaloniere was standing right under the giant and his point of view was deceiving him, climbed onto the scaffold at the shoulders of the statue to please him and, prying up some marble dust from the platform of the scaffold with the chisel he held in his left hand, began to gradually sprinkle the dust down, working as if with other incisors, but without touching the nose. Then, bending over to the gonfaloniere, who was watching him, he said: “Come on, look at him now.” “Now I like it better,” said the Gonfalonier, “you have revived him.” Michelangelo then descended from the bridge, silently laughing at him and feeling sorry for people who, wanting to show themselves as experts, say things that they themselves do not understand. When the statue was finally installed, he opened it, and truly this creation eclipsed all known statues, new and ancient, whether Greek or Roman; and it can be said that neither the Roman Marforius, nor the Tiber or Nile Belvedere, nor the giants from Montecavallo can in any way compare with it: Michelangelo finished it with such proportionality and beauty, with such good quality. For the outlines of her legs are highest degree beautiful, and the conjugation and harmony of the hips are divine, and such a graceful pose has never been seen, no grace, incomparable with anything, no arms, no legs, no head, which would so correspond to each member of this body with their goodness, their skill and their consistency, not to mention their design. And, really, anyone who saw this should not look at any sculpture by any master of ours or other times.” Vasari.
Colossal statue of David (1501-1504, Florence, Art Academy) height approx. 5 m, together with the base, gives rise to the idea of formidable strength (contemporaries called this feature of Michelangelo’s works terribilita), of a heroic impulse restrained by a powerful tension of will. The colossal figure was supposed to stand at the cathedral.
"David" became one of the most famous works of the Italian Renaissance. This statue was already perceived by contemporaries as a symbol of the Florentine Republic. Vasari wrote that Michelangelo “created David as a sign that he protected his people and ruled them justly, so the rulers of the city should courageously protect them and govern them justly.” It is no coincidence that the opening of the statue in 1504 became a solemn event for the entire city.
In David, Michelangelo coped with a very difficult task - creating a statue from a marble block that had already been damaged in the 15th century, and of a complex shape. And he did it brilliantly. Here his excellent ability to extract maximum expressiveness from stone was demonstrated. Later he formulated this in one of his sonnets: the work is already embedded in the stone itself, you just need to be able to extract it from there.
Several decades ago, a huge block of marble was quarried in Carrara, which lay in the courtyard of the Church of Santa Maria del Fiore, intended for a colossal statue of the biblical hero David. The block was nine feet high. On August 16, 1501, a treaty was concluded. The sculptor spoke for two years, counting from September 1. On Monday, September 13, early in the morning, Michelangelo began work. Michelangelo prepared more than a hundred sketches of the future statue, made a small clay model, which he poured into containers with milk, with the help of which he determined the sequence of work on the marble block.
Due to severe damage to the marble, it was necessary to mark the future statue extremely accurately, down to the centimeter. First the master carved left hand David. One arm of the giant figure had to be depicted bent at the elbow - due to potholes in the marble block.
4 months after the start of intense work on “David,” the Tuscan winter arrived; wind, snow and rain made Michelangelo’s work difficult; he had to forge instruments that quickly became dull from intense work. But Michelangelo could not afford to rest, often even sleeping at night at his workplace. According to Vasari, anyone who allows himself a break from work in Florence is doomed to oblivion, the air was so filled with the desire for fame and the thirst for recognition, competition among the masters was very high. Unrest and unrest in Florence interfered from time to time proper operation, and the statue was completed only in 1504.
They say that after finishing the statue, Michelangelo decorated it with a crown of sheet copper. This was not unusual at the time; many ancient statues, which served as a source of inspiration for the Renaissance masters, were covered in gold or brightly painted.
The image of David was traditional in Florence. Donatello and Verrocchio created bronze sculptures of a young man miraculously slaying a giant whose head lies at his feet. Michelangelo depicted David not as a fragile teenager trampling on the severed head of Goliath, as the masters of the 15th century did, but as a beautiful, athletic giant in the moment before battle, full of confidence and formidable strength (contemporaries called it terribilita - terrifying). In contrast, Michelangelo depicted the moment preceding the fight. David stands with a sling thrown over his shoulder, clutching a stone in his left hand. The right side of the figure is tense, while the left is slightly relaxed, like an athlete ready for action. The hero of the Old Testament is depicted by Michelangelo as a handsome, muscular, naked young man who looks anxiously into the distance, as if assessing his enemy - Goliath, with whom he has to fight. The lively, intense expression of David's face is characteristic of many of Michelangelo's works - this is a sign of his individual sculptural style.
In “David” the titanism heroized by Michelangelo was revealed. In a beautiful face young hero, in his gaze with which he meets the enemy, we catch that formidable expressiveness that contemporaries considered the integral property of Michelangelo’s creations. Without resorting to strong compositional dynamics or complex movement, the master created a type of hero full of courage, power and readiness for action.
Michelangelo depicts David naked, based on the ancient ideals of human beauty, translating in marble ancient ideas about the correspondence of physical beauty, power and fortitude.
He stands calmly, confident in his rightness and in his impending victory. He has disproportionately large limbs and a heavy head, which emphasizes the youthful nature of his physique. A beautiful, courageous face is marked with the stamp of extraordinary nobility, a powerful torso and superbly modeled arms and legs not only express physical strength, but also emphasize the strength of spirit. David is depicted before the battle with Goliath. He's all concentration and anticipation. After all, nothing has happened yet. Thus, David, Michelangelo is by no means the final solution to the problem of man, but only the formulation of the question - we find the answer to this question in further creativity Michelangelo.
In 1504, the work was completed; on January 25, a commission of experts was convened, at which the question of where to place the statue was discussed. During the commission's discussion of the issue of the statue, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci met for the first time. This was not a convenient moment for a friendly meeting. Leonardo was over 50 years old at this time; he had already created “The Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa” and was inferior to Michelangelo in sculpture. Da Vinci's only rival, Michelangelo, was not even 26 years old at that time. His “David,” as his contemporaries put it, “even the ignorant were amazed.” At the request of Michelangelo, they decided to place it at the entrance to the Palazzo Signoria, where it stood for three centuries.
The installation of this statue had a special political significance: at this time, at the very beginning of the 16th century, the Florentine Republic, having expelled its internal tyrants, the Medici family, was determined to resist the enemies that threatened it from within and without. They wanted to believe that little Florence could win, just as the once young, peaceful shepherd David defeated the giant Goliath.
The transfer of the colossal statue from the workshop and its installation in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of the authorities of the Florentine Republic, turns into a solemn event. It took three days to deliver the marble giant to its destination. It is unknown why stones were thrown at the marble giant. Perhaps it was the work of individual vandals. According to another version, the attack was organized by supporters of the Medici family in protest against the symbol of power of the new republican government.
After the statue was installed in its permanent place, Michelangelo probably carried out the final work, applying the finishing touches, polishing the surface of the “skin” to a mirror shine. Finally, all the work was completed. By the beginning of September, it was time to unveil the statue on which Michelangelo spent three years of tireless work.
The opening of the David took place on September 8, and the Florentines were shocked by the completed view. The statue of David brought Michelangelo fame and established his reputation as the first sculptor of Italy. With this statue, Michelangelo proved to his fellow citizens that he not only surpassed all contemporary artists, but also the masters of antiquity. If until now the name of Michelangelo was known throughout Italy, after the completion of David he was proclaimed the greatest of Italian sculptors, and Michelangelo rightfully retained this title until the end of his life.
In 1873, the statue of David had to be moved to the Florence Academy of Fine Arts to protect it from the destructive effects of wind, rain and sun. Since then, an exact copy of the masterpiece has stood in its original place.
"Lamentation of Christ", or "Pieta" (c. 1498-1500)
Arriving in Rome in 1496, two years later Michelangelo received an order for a statue of the Virgin and Christ. He sculpted an incomparable sculptural group, including the figure of the Mother of God grieving over the body of the Savior taken down from the cross. Undoubtedly, this work indicates the beginning of the master’s creative maturity. The Lamentation of Christ group was originally intended for the Chapel of the Virgin Mary in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and is still located in St. Peter's Basilica, in the first chapel on the right.
The order for the sculptural group was received thanks to the guarantee of the banker Jacopo Galli, who acquired the statue of “Bacchus” and some other works by Michelangelo for his collection. The contract was concluded on August 26, 1498, the customer was the French cardinal Jean de Villiers Fesanzac. According to the contract, the master was obliged to complete the work in a year, and received 450 ducats for it. The work was completed around 1500, after the death of the cardinal, who died in 1498. Perhaps this marble group was originally intended for the future tomb of the customer. By the time the Lamentation of Christ ended, Michelangelo was only 25 years old.
The contract contains the words of the guarantor, “I, Jacopo Galli, promise your Eminence that the above-mentioned Michelangelo will complete the work you need within a year and that it will be best work made of marble that exists today, and that no master today can make it better.”. Time has confirmed the words of Galli, who turned out to be a far-sighted and subtle connoisseur of art. “The Lamentation of Christ” still has an irresistible effect with its perfection and depth of artistic solution.
This grand order opens new stage in the life of a young sculptor. He opened his own workshop and hired a team of assistants. During this period, he repeatedly visited the Karr quarries, where he himself chose marble blocks for his future sculptures. For the “Pieta” a short but fairly wide block of marble was required, since according to his plan, the body of her adult Son was placed on the lap of the Virgin Mary.
This composition became key work early Roman period of Michelangelo's work, marking the beginning High Renaissance in Italian plastic. Some researchers compare the meaning of the marble group “Lamentation of Christ” with the meaning of the famous “Madonna in the Grotto” by Leonardo da Vinci, which opens the same stage in painting.
“... These things aroused the desire of Cardinal St. Dionysius, called the French Cardinal of Rouen, to leave, through the medium of an artist so rare, a worthy memory of himself in a city so famous, and he ordered him a marble, entirely round sculpture with the lamentation of Christ, which upon its completion was placed in St. Peter's Cathedral in the chapel of the Virgin Mary, healer of fever, where there used to be a temple of Mars. Let it never occur to any sculptor, even if he were a rare artist, the thought that he could add something to such a design and to such grace and through his labors could someday achieve such subtlety and purity and cut marble with such skill as Michelangelo showed in this thing, for in it all the power and all the possibilities inherent in art are revealed. Among the beauties here, in addition to the divinely made robes, the deceased Christ attracts attention; and let it not even occur to anyone to see a naked body made so skillfully, with such beautiful limbs, with the muscles, vessels, and veins dressing its frame so finely trimmed, or to see a dead man more similar to a dead man than this dead man. Here is the most gentle expression of the face, and a certain consistency in the binding and pairing of the arms, and in the connection of the torso and legs, and such a treatment of the blood vessels that you are truly amazed at how the artist’s hand could shortest time it is so divine and impeccable to create such a wondrous thing; and, of course, it is a miracle that a stone, initially devoid of any form, could ever be brought to that perfection that nature has difficulty imparting to flesh.
Michelangelo put so much love and work into this creation that only on it (which he did not do in his other works) he wrote his name along the belt tightening the chest of the Mother of God; it turned out that one day Michelangelo, approaching the place where the work was placed, saw there big number visitors from Lombardy, who praised her greatly, and when one of them turned to the other with the question of who did it, he replied: “Our Milanese Gobbo.” Michelangelo remained silent, and it seemed at least strange to him that his works were attributed to another. One night he locked himself there with a lamp, taking the chisels with him, and carved his name on the sculpture. And truly she is as one most beautiful poet said about her, as if addressing a real and living figure:
Dignity and beauty
And sorrow: you will groan over this marble!
He is dead, having lived, and taken down from the cross
Beware of raising your songs,
So as not to call from the dead until the time comes
The one who accepted grief alone
For everyone who is our master,
You are now father, husband and son,
O you, his wife, and mother, and daughter." Vasari.
This beautiful marble sculpture remains to this day a monument to the full maturity of the artist’s talent. Sculpted in marble, this sculptural group amazes with its bold handling of traditional iconography, the humanity of the created images, and high craftsmanship. This is one of the most famous works in the history of world art.
“And it was not for nothing that he acquired the greatest glory for himself, and although some, after all, but still ignorant people say that his Mother of God is too young, have they not noticed or do they not know that virgins who have not been disgraced in any way hold back for a long time and keep their facial expression undistorted, but in those burdened with grief, as Christ was, the opposite is observed? Why such a work brought his talent more honor and glory than all the previous ones taken together.” Vasari.
The young Mary is depicted with the dead Christ on her lap, an image borrowed from northern European art. The earliest versions of the Pieta also included the figures of St. John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene. Michelangelo, however, limited himself to two key figures - the Virgin and Christ. Some researchers suggest that Michelangelo depicted himself and his mother in the sculptural group, who died when he was only six years old. Art historians note that his Virgin Mary is as young as the sculptor’s mother at the time of her death.
The theme of mourning Christ was popular in both Gothic art and the Renaissance, but here it is treated rather restrainedly. Gothic knew two types of such mourning: either with the participation of the young Mary, whose ideally beautiful face is not able to darken the grief that befell her, or with the elderly Mother of God, gripped by terrible, heartbreaking despair. Michelangelo in his group decisively departs from the usual attitudes. He depicted Mary as young, but at the same time she is infinitely far from the conventional beauty and emotional immobility of Gothic Madonnas of this type. Her feeling is a living human experience, embodied with such depth and richness of shades that here for the first time we can talk about introducing a psychological element into the image. 3 and the young mother’s external restraint reveals the full depth of her grief; the mournful silhouette of a bowed head, a hand gesture that sounds like a tragic questioning, everything adds up to an image of enlightened grief.
Mary's look is not so sad as it is solemn. This is the highest point of the work of the young Michelangelo. In the image of the Madonna, young and beautiful, a huge human feeling is conveyed with amazing power - the grief of a mother for her lost son. According to the subtle observation of V. Lazarev “Her beautiful face breathes sorrow, but there is not a shadow of despair in it. She perceives the death of her son as the fulfillment of what was destined by fate. And her grief is so immeasurable and great that it grows from personal grief into the grief of all humanity.”.
Death and the sorrow that accompanies it seem to be contained in the marble from which the sculpture is made. The relationship of the figures is such that they form a low triangle, or more precisely, a conical structure. The naked body of Christ contrasts with the lush, rich in chiaroscuro clothes of the Mother of God. Michelangelo depicted the Virgin Mary as young, as if she were not Mother and Son, but a sister mourning the untimely death of her brother. Idealization of this kind was used by Leonardo da Vinci and other artists. In addition, Michelangelo was an ardent admirer of Dante. At the beginning of St. Bernard's prayer in the last canzone Divine Comedy it says: “Vergine Madre, figlia del tuo figlio” - "Our Lady, daughter of her Son". The sculptor found perfect way to express this deep theological thought in stone.
The heaviness of the hood of the Virgin Mary, forcing her to bow her head down to the hand of Christ lying near her heart, focused the audience’s attention on the dead body stretched out on the mother’s lap. She held her son, securely grabbing him by the shoulders, then leads her gaze to Christ’s body, to his face, his eyes, peacefully closed in deep sleep, to a straight, not so thin nose, to clean and smooth skin on the cheeks, to a curly beard, to a mouth distorted by agony. With her head bowed, the Mother of God looked at her son. All those who see the statues will feel that the dead body of her son lies on her lap with an unbearable weight and that a much greater weight rests on her heart. The figures of the seated Madonna and the dead Christ stretched out on her knees are united into an inextricable whole. The movement of the Madonna is full of naturalness and severity, her bowed head, the beautiful features of a mournful face are framed by the soft folds of the bedspread. The questioning gesture of her left hand is expressive. It contains both despair and question. She seems to refuse to believe in an irreparable loss. The folds of her long robe cascade down. And the rhythm of these folds emphasizes the bend of Christ’s motionless body. The contrast between the lifeless body of Christ and the full life of the Madonna is accurately conveyed.
In this sculptural composition there is still no expression that is characteristic of more later works Michelangelo, however, it makes a strong impression on the viewer, enhanced by the contrast of the grieving living figure and the dead body of Christ. To combine two life-size figures in one sculpture, to place a fully grown man on a woman’s lap - this was a daringly new, unusual step in sculpture, which rejected all previous ideas about the “Lamentation”.
On a sling going over the Madonna's left shoulder, Michelangelo is in the first and last time cut out the signature: "Michelangelo Buonarroti the Florentine performed" .
In his declining years, the master once again turned to this plot, creating a composition "The Descent from the Cross", or "Pieta with Nicodemus", And "Pieta Rondanini".
The stamp of deep inner experience that marks Michelangelo’s “Lamentation of Christ” is apparently associated with the feelings that were evoked in the sculptor by the execution of Savonarola (May 23, 1498). The monk was burned at the stake in the very Florence that idolized him, in the square where his passionate speeches thundered and where the people for whom he lived and died were now sticking nails between the boards in the path of the martyr, who walked barefoot to the fire.
Already after the installation of the Pietà sculptural group in St. Peter's Cathedral, Michelangelo's superiority over other contemporary sculptors became obvious. The name of a hitherto unknown young sculptor thundered throughout Italy and most of Europe. Plaster casts of Jesus' body were sent to various schools and academies, so great was the perfection in finishing the smallest details.
After finishing work on The Lamentation of Christ, Michelangelo received several orders, not so grandiose. The banker Galli entered into a contract with Michelangelo to create an altarpiece for the cardinal's tomb in St. Agostino, but the work was never completed.
By the age of 25, the period of formation of his personality had ended, and he returned to Florence in the prime of all the possibilities that a sculptor can have.
, who modestly called himself “a sculptor from Florence,” was an artist, an architect, a poet, and a thinker. Each of his works is a synthesis of all his talents, ideal in form and philosophical in content.Tondo Doni from the Uffizi Gallery is the very masterpiece of Michelangelo, where painting becomes almost a sculpture filled with the deepest meaning.
Tondo Doni (or Madonna Doni) is the only non-monumental painting Michelangelo, which is considered completed, and whose authorship is beyond doubt.
A tondo is a piece of painting or sculpture in a round format, about a meter in diameter. Paintings and reliefs in the shape of a circle were extremely common in Florence during the early Renaissance. Throughout the 15th century, the most noticeable and bright artists worked with tondo, traditionally depicting religious subjects on them. Rich Florentines ordered tondos both for their palazzos and as expensive gifts for weddings and holidays.
In 1504, Michelangelo Buonarroti lives and works in Florence. Hishas just been installed in Piazza della Signoria, in the heart of the young republic. The news of the giant statue of a perfectly beautiful naked man spread throughout Europe. And there was no star brighter than Michelangelo!
A young sculptor, originally from Florence, who glorified his city... he became a real celebrity and the most sought-after master. Soon rumors of his genius will reach Pope Julius II himself, who will invite him to Rome with great respect. But for now Michelangelo is inundated with orders from wealthy Florentines: everyone wanted to get his work.
Agnolo Doni could not stay away either. A merchant, a wealthy textile merchant, a philanthropist, a collector of ancient and “modern” art, he was one of the most enlightened, famous and respected people in the city.
In 1504, a magnificent wedding takes place in Florence: Agnolo Doni marries Maddalena Strozzi, a representative of a wealthy family of Florentine bankers.
It is quite possible that it was in honor of this celebration that Doni turned to Michelangelo and ordered from him an image of the Virgin Mary in tondo format, the creation of which is connected with a fascinating story that has come down to us in the Lives of Giorgio Vasari.
When Michelangelo finished the tondo, he sent him with a messenger to Agnolo's house with a message to receive 70 ducats for it. Doni, a philanthropist and art connoisseur, immediately realized that Michelangelo’s work was so good that it was worth much more. But, being a prudent merchant, he decided that 40 ducats would be enough for the artist, which he handed to the messenger. Agnolo was fully confident that the artist would not dare to argue and bargain with such a powerful and respected person. But Michelangelo, known for his difficult character, became truly furious and sent back 40 ducats, ordering the messenger to return either with the painting or with double the price. Agnolo, already ready for 70, as in the saying about the stingy, was forced to send Michelangelo 140 ducats.
A year later, Agnolo Doni will turn to and will order a double portrait from him with his young wife. And you must agree, Raphael perfectly conveyed the character of Agnolo Doni, this smart but calculating Florentine.
What amazed Agnolo Doni so much, who was ready even for double the price?
Michelangelo places an intimate family scene in the center of the composition: the Virgin Mary hands over her son, the baby Jesus Christ, to Joseph.
A description by Giorgio Vasari has been preserved: “Here Michelangelo expresses in the turn of the head of the mother of Christ and in her eyes, fixed on the highest beauty of her son, his wonderful satisfaction and excitement<…>But since this was not enough for Michelangelo to show in yet to a greater extent the greatness of his art, he painted many naked bodies against the background of this work - leaning, standing upright and sitting, and he finished this whole thing so carefully and so cleanly that of all his paintings on the tree, and there are few of them, it is rightly considered the most complete and the most beautiful.”
Holy family separated by a small wall, in the background there are depicted naked young men, reminiscent of the ancient statues so beloved of Michelangelo. And the figurine of the baby John the Baptist is placed in such a way that it seems to connect these scenes.
There are several ways to read this work.
According to one, Tondo Doni is a contrast between the old, pagan world and the new time of Christianity and the coming of the Savior. Perhaps this group of naked people, gathered in a semicircle in the manner of antiquity, are pagans awaiting baptism, the sacrament of which is traditionally associated with the figure of John the Baptist.
And according to another version, naked men symbolize homosexual relationships, which were often attributed to Michelangelo, and which were condemned by the Christian church.
The technique with which Michelangelo completed the work amazed and continues to amaze everyone without exception. An unusually solid composition and rich color scheme make the tondo expressive, bright and unforgettable. It is impossible to believe that its creator did not consider himself an artist at all. On the contrary, Michelangelo did not like painting, considering the chisel and hammer to be his tools.
At the same time, he amazingly managed to work with these very instruments, like a brush (just remember the Pieta). And to paint pictures as if he were carving them out of marble: after all, the naked hands of the Virgin Mary seem completely alive!
The lively plasticity of figures is another unconditional advantage of Tondo Doni. Michelangelo was an artist and sculptor who was extremely attracted to the human body. He was not at all interested in portraying ethereal images. Of course, nude male body movement is the main thing in Michelangelo's art. But even when depicting clothed characters, Mary and Joseph, Michelangelo achieves maximum authenticity of movements and poses. After all, he, passionate about anatomy, like no other artist, knows all the secrets and positions of the human body.
The Virgin Mary handing over the baby Jesus Christ to Joseph is depicted in an unusual movement. This turn seems to twist the entire composition in a spiral, making it integral and expressive.
Pose of the Virgin, found by Michelangelo, certainly during preparatory work. After all, for each of his projects, Michelangelo made dozens of drawings from life. It was this situation that unusually inspired Raphael Santi, a young and impetuous artist who arrived in Florence at that time, wanting to study with Michelangelo and Leonardo.
Tondo Doni will be an endless source of inspiration for Rafael. He uses this twisting movement in the painting “Entombment”: a girl in this position supports the Virgin Mary, who has fainted from grief.
And years later, in Rome, where Raphael would achieve extraordinary fame, become a leading artist, chief architect of St. Peter's Basilica and keeper of antiquities, he would not forget Tondo Doni. In 1512, he will create the altarpiece “Madonna di Foligno”, and his Jesus Christ will be so similar to the baby from the Tondo Doni. This is how, inspired and entering into dialogue, Raphael expressed his deep admiration for the genius of Michelangelo Buonarroti, “a simple sculptor from Florence.”
Madonna and Child, or "Madonna of Bruges" (1504)
Returning to Florence, after "David", Michelangelo created the so-called "Madonna of Bruges" a small (1.27 m high) sculptural group of the Madonna and Child, finishing it in 1504. Subsequently, the statue ended up in the Notre Dame Church in the Dutch city of Bruges.
By type, this young, gentle, thoughtful Madonna resembles Madonna "Lamentations of Christ" from St. Peter's Cathedral. However, on this basin, the sculptor sculpted a more traditional composition, depicting Jesus in the form of a Child. In this modest work, which reveals a line of images in Michelangelo’s work, marked by features of a peculiar lyricism, Madonna herself is especially attractive, in which classical beauty and inner strength of personality are combined with soft poetry and nobility. You can feel the hand of the master who sculpted the Roman "Pieta" .
The Madonna and Child from Bruges is one of Michelangelo's most beautiful and spiritual Madonnas. A sad woman, chosen and doomed, she foresees her son's suffering on the cross. Her gaze is directed into the distance, an expression of inescapable sadness is frozen on her face. The Baby, cheerful and inquisitive, with a large curly head, evokes completely different feelings. With her childish spontaneity and serenity, she seems to emphasize the immensity of her mother’s future grief.
“That’s why she resisted, did not want to let go of this beautiful, strong and agile boy, who grabbed her protecting hand with his little hand. And that’s why she covered her son with the edge of her cloak. The boy, sensing his mother’s mood, also had sadness hidden in his eyes. He was full of strength and courage, soon he would jump off his mother’s lap and leave this safe refuge, but now, at this moment, he grabbed his mother’s hand with one hand and pressed the other to her thigh. Perhaps he is thinking now about her, about his mother, saddened by the inevitable separation: her son, so trustingly clinging to his knees, will soon wander alone in the world.” Stone Irving.
The Virgin Mary turned out to be alive and believable, tender and pure. One moment more, and the eyelids will tremble, the hand will pick up the child, the chest will inhale. She is alive, she feels. The master no longer idealized Mary’s face, as in his earlier works. Having created the Roman “Pieta” and “David”, he is looking for feeling, believability: modest clothes with flowing folds outline the strong body of a young mother, a face with heavy eyelids from unshed tears, a long nose, thick hair in a simple hairstyle covered with a heavy hood, as this work reminds "Pieta." The baby's body, although childish, gives a feeling of hidden power, but is childishly cute - plump cheeks and chin, curly head. At his mother’s knees, holding her hand, he feels protected and ready to explore the world. The position of the bodies of the sculptural group is very natural - what could be more plausible than the Mother and Child from Bruges?
Madonna
Brugge
The Madonna and Child was originally one of the sculptures commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini for his chapel in Siena. It was supposed to be located in a large niche at a height of nine meters, above the main altar in the Piccolomini family chapel. Thus, the audience had to look at her from bottom to top. This explains some of the disproportion of the sculpture and the downward gaze of the Mother of God and the Child.
But during the work, disagreements arose between the sculptor and the customer. The very principled cardinal wanted to first receive a sketch of the work in order to be sure that the sculpture would not show any liberties in composition and nudity. Michelangelo, however, chose to follow his inner vision and sculpted little Jesus naked.
The sculptor's friend, the banker Giovani Balducci, introduced Michelangelo to his client, an influential merchant from Jan de Mouscron, whose family traded in Flemish cloth in Italy. The latter made a generous offer to pay one hundred ducats for the sculpture.
Since the 13th century, the Flemish city of Bruges had close trade relations with Venice, Florence, Genoa and other Italian cities. One of the main branches of the Medici family bank was located in Bruges.
In a letter dated January 13, 1506, Michelangelo asks his father to leave the sculpture in a box, in family home and don't show it to anyone.
On August 14, 1506, Giovanni Balducci writes from Rome to Florence: “I have heard that Francesco del Puglise can send the sculpture to Viareggio, and from there to Flanders. If you agree with the shipping price, I ask you to send it to Bruges to its rightful owners Jan and Alexandre Mouscron.”
In October 1506, the sculpture was transported to Italian city Lucca and then Bruges. "Madonna and Child" was the only job masters who left Italy during his lifetime.
Thanks to an agreement dated November 23, 1514 and preserved in the city archives of Bruges, it is known that the rector and churchwardens of the Church of Our Lady accepted a luxurious altar and a statue of Our Lady and Child as a gift. In return, donors were given several privileges.
The sculpture was placed in a niche of black marble in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, the brightest and most pleasant part in Bruges.
Columns made of red stone contrast with black marble niches, and in 1768 two side sculptures, allegories: Faith and Hope, by sculptor Peter Peters, were added to the composition.
In front of the altar lies a tombstone restored in 1829, decorated with the family coat of arms of Pieter de Mouscron, son of Jan de Mouscron. According to the inscription on the slab, the altar standing in front of the sculpture was also his gift.
After the attack on the Pieta in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, during which the maniac damaged the sculpture with a hammer, church authorities decided to protect the sculptural group with bulletproof glass.
A mother and a newborn baby is one of the most popular subjects in art.
He was given special attention as popular and everyone famous artists(Leonardo da Vinci and Rafael Santi), and little known to the general public (Bartolomeo Murillo, di Marcovaldo and others).
Virgin Mary di Marcovaldo
Coppo di Marcovaldo is considered the founder of the Siena school of fine art. His fate is quite interesting, because in mid-XIII V. he took part in one of the battles on the side of the Florentine supporters of the Pope, as a result of which the artist was captured. But since he was very talented, he was able to “buy” his freedom by painting a very beautiful and quite realistic image of the Madonna and Child, which was then transferred to the Siena Church. This Madonna was called "Madonna del Bordone".
This painting presents the viewer with the Virgin Mary sitting on a throne, slightly raising one leg to make it more comfortable for the baby to sit in her arms. She touchingly holds his leg, and he reaches out to her with his hand. They already have some noticeable interaction, which has not been observed for more early paintings.
The Virgo's head is surrounded by a barely visible halo. It is worth noting the incredibly expressive eyes of this Madonna. She looks at the viewer, as if looking into his soul. Her clothing is a simple black cape, but to make it more chic, the artist painted the draperies in gold. On the sides, left and right, there are angels depicted in full height (this is a Florentine tradition). Usually they were drawn the same, but these, if you look closely, are not completely identical to each other: the differences are in their faces.
Let's move on from the lesser known to the more popular and take a closer look at the most striking paintings on this topic.
"Madonna Litta" by Leonardo da Vinci
One of the most depicted Madonna and Child is the painting “Madonna Litta” by the brilliant Leonardo da Vinci. Now it can be seen among the masterpieces stored in the Hermitage.
The main person in this canvas is a young woman holding a baby in her arms and breastfeeding him. As in all of them, it stands out more in comparison with the background, where the viewer can observe windows in the shape of arches, through which a bright blue sky with fluffy white clouds. It is worth noting that the Madonna and Child are drawn very clearly, its features seem to be highlighted, as if drawn under a camera flash, in comparison with the somewhat blurred background - this is also distinctive features portraits of that era.
The mother looks at the child with tenderness. Some people think that she is smiling slightly (the “Leonardo’s smile”, popular for the artist’s paintings), but in fact, the Madonna is thoughtful. The child looks at the viewer, holding a bird in one of his hands - a small goldfinch.
Goldfinch in the painting "Madonna Litta"
There are different versions of why the chick is depicted in this painting.
The bird as a symbol of the future suffering of Christ, where the red head of the goldfinch symbolizes the blood shed by the Son of God. According to legend, when Christ was being led to Golgotha, a goldfinch flew down on him, pulled out a thorn from Jesus’ eyebrow, and blood dripped onto him.
The goldfinch symbolizes the soul, which flies away after death: this designation comes from ancient paganism, but is also preserved in Christian semiotics.
The apocryphal Gospel of Thomas tells a slightly different story: Jesus revived a dead goldfinch simply by holding it in his hands, which is why many paintings depict this chick with the baby.
Madonnas by Raphael Santi
But there is another, no less famous Madonna and Child. Rafael Santi was the one who wrote it. Or rather, he has quite a lot of paintings with such a plot: this is the well-known “Madonna of Conestabile”, which is kept in the Hermitage, and the extraordinary “Madonna with a Veil,” which depicts not only a mother and child, but the entire Holy Family.
Raphael painted the painting itself with the title “Madonna and Child” in 1503. The woman in it is more sophisticated and, undoubtedly, younger than da Vinci’s. Obviously, the bond between mother and child is more pronounced. They look at each other with touching love and slight thoughtfulness, the mother supports the baby by the back with her hand. This is no longer the anxious Virgo that can be seen in the artist’s early paintings.
Together they read the book “Book of Hours” - a symbol of the authority of the church - in which the texts of prayers, psalms, church services(previously, by the way, it was from this book that they learned to read). According to some sources, the Book of Hours is opened on the page that corresponds to nine o'clock, which is the time when Jesus was crucified on the cross.
In the background there is a smoky landscape with a church and trees. By the way, this landscape can also be called distinctive characteristic works by Santi on the theme of mother and child. Almost every painting by Raphael has a fairly detailed landscape background.
There is no point in determining whose painting is better: Da Vinci or Raphael. The Madonna and Child looks original and unique in each of them.
Not only fine art was interested in the theme of mother and child, so it is worth considering how it was reflected in other forms.
Madonna and Child sculpture
The attention of any art connoisseur is attracted by the sculpture "Madonna and Child", the author of which is famous master Michelangelo.
According to the customers, this masterpiece was supposed to be at a height of about nine meters, so that the audience would look up at it, like a deity. By the way, it is for this reason that the gaze of the mother and child is directed downward.
There is evidence that Cardinal Piccolomini (the first customer) was dissatisfied with the sketches, primarily because Jesus was naked, so their contract with Michelangelo was broken. And the sculpture, of course, found its owner. He became de Mouscron, a merchant from the city of Bruges. He then gave it to the Church of Our Lady, where it was placed in a dark niche that contrasted beautifully with the marble-white color of the sculpture itself.
At the moment, in order to protect the city authorities, they placed it behind bulletproof glass.
"Madonna Doni" by Michelangelo
In addition to being an excellent sculptor, Michelangelo was also wonderful artist. Although he did not consider it some kind of achievement and was not at all proud of his talent.
The images drawn by him amaze the viewer with their incredible plasticity; it seems that even when drawing he “sculpts” figures, giving them volume. In addition, the painting depicts the entire Holy Family, which was rare for paintings of this kind. Of course, in the full sense of the word, Michelangelo is a sculptor, not an artist. Madonna and Child, however, is simply a masterpiece.
So, let's summarize. If we talk about the famous painting, depicting the Virgin Mary, then this is Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece "Madonna and Child". If a person is interested in other types of art, then the most striking and memorable is undoubtedly the work of Michelangelo.