This past summer I read "The Agony and the Ecstasy" (I remember this book sitting on my Dad's shelf in the living room when I was a kid), which is the fictionalized autobiography of Michelangelo. It's the kind of book my Dad would want me to read but only now, 41 and living in Italy, did I read it, and I couldn't put it down.
One of the major works (and disappointments of Michelangelo's life) was the pared down commission to create and carve the tomb of Pope Julius II. I have a tangential connection to Pope Julius the II because he was born Giuliano Della Rovere and here in Rome, I live on Piazza Della Rovere. The story goes that just after Michelangelo shows the world his David in Florence, Pope Julius II brings Michelangelo to Rome and commissions him to carve his massive three story tomb, on which there would be some 40 statues and placed in St. Peter's. The money stopped flowing, Pope Julius II died in 1513, and in 1545, the tomb was finished simply as a facade and placed in San Pietro in Vincoli church, where Della Rovere was once a cardinal. The tomb contains Michelangelo's sculpture of Moses.
November 1st, is All Saints Day in Italy (maybe all over Catholic countries?) and a national holiday. Being in Rome, I can just hop over on the bus and go see a Michelangelo in the city. Part of life here....
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| The not so impressive facade of the church San Pietro in Vincoli |
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| The name of the church comes from the legend that these were these chains housed here were the ones that bound Saint Peter when he was imprisoned in Jerusalem. |
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| The tomb of Pope Julius II, commissioned in 1505, this here is the final product finished in 1545. |
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| The brilliance of Michelangelo is his ability to bring out inner feelings of the piece. We can "see" into the soul through the eyes. |
