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Michelangelo Buonarroti: Palazzo Medici
built 629 days ago
The oval base Michelangelo designed for the statue of Marcus Aurelius became the basis for his design of the entire space. He placed the statue at the center of the piazza, which was paved in an oval pattern of radiating and interlocking lines. Approaching the piazza from the steps below, visitors are drawn into the receding space created by twin palaces, which angle subtly outward, and toward the staircase at either side of the Palazzo Senatorio. Perfect symmetry combines with flowing curves, traditional Roman forms with inventive new ones, to produce a unified and dynamic public space.
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In 1501, Michelangelo returned to Florence seduced by an overwhelming block of marble called ‘the giant’ that no artist had yet put to use. Michelangelo carved his magnificent David, which stands at nearly 15ft. Michelangelo depicted not the victorious boy supporting himself on the decapitated head of Goliath as Donatello, Verrochio and others had. Instead he composed the elegant and balanced figure before battle, gazing intensely at the horizon. David was meant for public exhibition in front of the Palazzo Vecchio – the entire city came out to witness its procession and unveiling.
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Romantic biographers would like Michelangelo to have been attracted to Contessina de' Medici, the youngest daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici. He may well have been, for surely she was the most comely creature in the Medici household and approximately his same age. But relations beyond polite formalities would have been impossible. They moved in different worlds; ... Contessina was marked from birth for a more socially advantageous match.
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In 1520 Michelangelo was commissioned to execute the Medici Chapel for two young Medici dukes. It contains two tombs, each with an image of the deceased and two allegorical (symbolic) figures: Day and Night on one tomb, and Morning and Evening on the other.
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Palazzo Medici