the quality of artist michelangelo buonarroti vs. contemporary artists
Lately, I’ve been doing some reading about Michelangelo. Apart from being one or the world’s greatest genius artist -as a sculptor, painter, architect, writer, poet- and other than his immense sense of detail, form, figures, proportion, anatomy, composition, lighting, structure, and deep meaning behind each work, what else can we learn from Michelangelo?
I’d like to draw your attention to his innate sense of materials. He was such a perfectionist, and that started with his materials. He would spend 6 to 8 months in the quarries picking out the perfect pieces of marble before he started any of sculpting. Could you imagine spending almost a year before you even start the art application process! You’re just trying to get the materials. The right materials.
He especially learned how important the right materials are when he was working on a sculpture and a black vein came through across the face of the Rebellious Slave. From that he realized that the marble slab he picked wasn’t large enough to work with and far from perfect. Usually he would carve and carve to mold the form, but with the slave, he ran out of room. What he learned from this he also applied to all of the huge projects he undertook later on, like the Tomb of Pope Julius II.
