Brutus (Michelangelo)

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Brutus
Brutus
Dimensionsheight 74 cm (2 ft 5 in)
LocationBargello, Florence
Preceded byRisen Christ (Michelangelo, Santa Maria sopra Minerva)
Followed byThe Deposition (Michelangelo)

Brutus is a marble bust of

Brutus sculpted by Michelangelo around 1539–1540. It is now in the Bargello museum in Florence
.

The sculpture gives Brutus a heroic aspect in keeping with political sentiment against tyranny at the time of its creation. It belongs to—and may have initiated—a revival of the classical bust in sculpture.

Background

tyranny.[1]

In the

decadence of Rome, a veritable cult of Brutus developed", Michelangelo's biographer Charles de Tolnay writes.[1]

During the years following the capitulation of Florence, Michelangelo remained in contact with some of the former leaders of the Republic, men who championed the liberty of the city-state and opposed Medicean tyranny. De Tolnay believes that one of these men, namely Donato Giannotti, inspired the bust of Brutus. "The Bust is important for understanding [Michelangelo] Buonarroti's political views", De Tolnay states. "Michelangelo's conception of Brutus is clearly expressed in this bust: It represents heroic scorn for those who would destroy liberty".[1] Contemporaries may have connected the sculpture with the assassination of Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence, by Lorenzino de' Medici in 1537.[2][3]

unfinished.[4]

Date

Brutus viewed from the side, looking into the face.

De Tolnay suggests that the bust was created around 1539–1540.[1] The Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, where the sculpture is usually displayed, also dates the work to 1539–1540[5] Thomas Martin questions this date, which originates with Giorgio Vasari, noting that Brutus did not leave Michelangelo's workshop until about 1555, suggesting that the sculpture might have been crafted over a long period, and was perhaps commissioned to commemorate the death of Lorenzino de' Medici in 1548.[6]

The work is generally considered to have been influential in reviving the classical

Bartolommeo Bandinelli in 1543–1545 and another bust of Duke Cosimo created by Benvenuto Cellini in 1545–1547.[6]

The work

The sculpture was commissioned by the republican Donato Giannotti for Cardinal Niccolò Ridolfi.[7]

The face of the sculpture is asymmetrical, with the side turned away from the spectator showing more signs of emotion, including a flared nostril.[8]

Fibula as a study for the head

Comparison of fibula on Brutus's shoulder with classical depiction of Brutus on a coin

Giorgio Vasari wrote that Michelangelo had modeled Brutus from the image cut into a gem. Later scholars did not find the work to resemble any such extant gem, supposing instead that it may have been modeled after a bust of Caracalla.[2] De Tolnay in 1935 published his observation that the fibula in the sculpture is a study for the sculpture itself, providing a missing link to show the resemblance to classical coinage.[8]

The shape of the head itself is simpler than that of the silhouette on the shoulder. According to de Tolnay:

In the former (the fibula), the silhouette of the head is roundish; the forehead in relief shows movement; the outline of the nose is undulating; the line of the lips is soft; the chin is sharply rounded. In the latter (the bust), everything is simplified for cutting; the comparatively small head rises above an unusually broad bull-neck, and has an almost straight rectangular silhouette; the forehead is quite smoothed off; the nose is severely straight; the lips are hard; the chin is angular and protruding. The minor details have disappeared and only the form as a whole remains effective. This evolution from an empirical, individual prototype to a universal, ideal type is characteristic of Michelangelo's procedure, and may be seen even in his early work.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Charles de Tolnay, Michelangelo: Sculptor, Painter, Architect (translated from French by Gaynor Woodhouse) (Princeton, NJ; Princeton University Press: 1975) pp. 43–45, 61–63, 173.
  2. ^ a b Irving Lavin, "On Illusion and Allusion in Italian Sixteenth-Century Portrait u", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 119(5), October 15, 1975; JSTOR.
  3. ^ McCarthy, Mary. Stones of Florence. p. 36.
  4. ^ Johannes Wilde, Michelangelo: Six Lectures (Oxford, UK; Oxford University Press, 1978) p. 9.
  5. ^ National Museum of Bargello, accessed 4 November 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Michelangelo's 'Brutus' and the Classicizing Portrait Bust in Sixteenth-Century Italy", Artibus et Historiae 14(27), 1993; JSTOR.
  7. ISBN 978-1416591351
    .
  8. ^ a b c Charles Tolnay, "Michelangelo's Bust of Brutus", The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 67(338), July 1935; JSTOR.

External links

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