Michelangelo Buonarroti's Moses - The statue is situated at the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome.
Moses was sculpted by Michelangelo sometime between 1513 and 1515. It was created for it to be part of the tomb of Pope Julius II. The sculpture is 254 cms. high.
The sculpture shows Moses in a seated posture between two decorative columns. He has a long beard which reaches down to his lap. This same posture can also be seen in the frescoes by Michelangelo, which he had painted at the Sistine Chapel. This sculpture was to have been placed in the upper part of the tomb where it would have been viewed from below. Keeping this in mind, Michelangelo had made the torso unusually long and given Moses a dramatic expression on his face. Even the shoulders and arms are disproportionately larger than the neck. You can also spot horns on Moses head. This stems out of a misconception. According to the Hebrew scriptures, Moses had “rays of the skin of his face”. This was mistakenly translated into Latin as Moses having horns on his head. It seems even Michelangelo was not aware of this mistake!
In the sculpture of Moses, you can see how well Michelangelo understood the material he worked with and his respect for marble. This masterpiece was created at the height of Michelangelo’s genius. The sculpture represents Michelangelo’s courage and passion at the time when he was fighting all odds to complete the tomb of Pope Julius II. In fact, Michelangelo himself considered Moses to be his most significant piece of work.
The image is adapted from Wikipedia, by Michelangelopaintings.org. Feel free to share alike.
