David Lawrence Alexander
19.6K posts
@manwithblackhat
Catholic, Christian Democrat, Constitutionalist, Granola Conservative, Reluctant Monarchist, Surrogate Subdeacon. Working on mysteries without any clues.
In 1499, Michelangelo overheard people crediting his greatest work to someone else. He snuck into St. Peter's at night and carved his name on the sculpture. He regretted it immediately and never signed anything again for the rest of his life... He was 24 years old. The year before, a French cardinal had paid him 450 gold ducats to sculpt a statue for his own tomb. The contract had one strange clause: it had to be "the most beautiful work of marble in Rome, one that no living artist could better." Michelangelo had never completed a major public commission. He accepted anyway... He carved for two years from a single block of Carrara marble that he later called the most perfect stone he ever worked. What he produced was the Pietà: the body of Christ, lifeless, across the lap of his mother. When it was unveiled, visitors refused to believe a 24-year-old Florentine had made it. They credited the work to a more famous Lombard sculptor. So according to Vasari, Michelangelo slipped into the basilica with a chisel and carved his name in Latin across the sash running between Mary's breasts: MICHAELANGELUS BONAROTUS FLORENTINUS FACIEBAT. "Michelangelo Buonarroti, the Florentine, made this." Then he vowed never to sign another work. He kept that vow. Through the David. Through the Sistine Chapel. Through the dome of St. Peter's. Through 65 more years of work, until he died at 88. Not one of them bears his name. What I can never quite get over is that he was only 23 when he started. A young man who believed he could carve the most beautiful object on earth. And then he did... If you enjoyed this, I write a newsletter read by over 50,000 people who love rediscovering the wonder and beauty of the past, one story at a time. You can join us here: james-lucas.com/welcome History is more beautiful than we remember.
