Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 3

WARNING: THIS CLIP PROVIDES CLOSE-UPS OF REINAISSANCE-AGE SCULPTURES. IT MOVES IN CLOSELY TO EXAMINE VARIOUS PARTS OF THE ART WORK. SOME OF THE DEPICTED SCULPTURES ARE NUDES. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Michelangelo needed money. His patron, Lorenzo de Medici was dead, so the young sculptor created a devious plan to generate cash. He would create a "Sleeping Cupid" - and then claim it was an ancient sculpture.

A modern artist shows us how that now-lost cupid* might have appeared. Michelangelo covered it with materials to make it seem really old - then buried it in the Earth for awhile. He sold the fake ancient treasure to a Cardinal of the church (who quickly realized it was a fake).

Appreciating Michelangelo's talents, however, Cardinal Raffaele Riario commissioned a marble statue for his sculpture-garden collection. Allowing Michelangelo to chose the subject, the Cardinal ended up with a piece he didn't want. The Bacchus (Roman god of wine) was far too revealing to suit the Cardinal's tastes. Today, it is maintained by the Museo del Bargello, in Florence.

Upset with Riario's rejection of his work, Michelangelo was determined to create another beautiful sculpture. Commissioned to produce a Pieta, he traveled to the marble quarries at Carrara to find just the right piece of raw material.

Michelangelo's favorite quarries are still a source of fine marble. They are depicted, in this photo, just outside the town of Carrara. (The white-covered peaks are white-marble quarries - not snow.)

See, also:

Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 15

*The "Sleeping Cupid" was ultimately transported to London where, it is believed, it was probably destroyed - in 1698 - in a fire at the Palace of Whitehall.