to facilitate his grand schemes. However, he always retained his independence.


His choice of marble blocks was key to his sculptural process. He spent months in the quarry at Carrara finding the perfect stone for a subject.


Sculpture


Michelangelo was an accomplished artist in painting, sculpture and architecture, but he considered himself a sculptor first and foremost.


As an infant, Michelangelo was cared for by a wet nurse whose husband was a stonecutter. His mother died when he was very young but he grew up absorbed by drawing and carving. He spent a short time in the studio of the artist Ghirlandaio and, at the age of 13, he moved to a school of


sculpture set up by Lorenzo the Magnificent. The sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni was his teacher and he studied from the collection of classical statues in the Medici gardens.


Influences


Michelangelo always said he was self-taught, but he learned drawing and fresco in Ghirlandaio’s studio and developed opinions about art. Masaccio and Lorenzo Ghiberti were also an influence.


The Pietà


After the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Michelangelo could no longer rely on patronage in Florence, so he left for Rome, where he made studies of antique statues. His first major commission was The Pietà, made for an elderly cardinal who wanted a statue for his tomb.


Contrasting textures like wavy hair and folds in clothing


Single block of marble


Contrasting tonal values Smooth white marble on the face and body of Jesus


Curves and recesses create dark shadows


Smooth white marble


Figures are


still and calm but diagonal lines associated with movement and action create a lifelike aura


Dark shadows


Fig. 22.11 (left) The Pietà, 1500, by Michelangelo, marble, St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. In his first masterpiece, the artist groups the figures in a pyramidal composition. This beautiful mixture of design elements makes it one of the most valued statues in modern history.


Fig. 22.12 (right) Pyramidal composition of The Pietà. Mary’s head is the pinnacle of the triangle and her foot on the block and those of Jesus form the other points. Her face is an oval. The position of Jesus’ body makes another less obvious triangle, inverted inside the main one.


CHAPTER 22: A GOLDEN AGE 265


EUROPEAN ART


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