“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free” Michelangelo.
Born in 1475 in Tuscany, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni is regarded as one of the great artists of the Renaissance, if not of all time, with his sculptures and paintings including the giant statue of David, (fashioned from a single block of marble), his eloquent Pieta in the Papal Basilica of St Peter, and the rather overwhelming Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican. Not forgetting the Manchester Madonna (today at the National Gallery in London).
This documentary, the latest in the Exhibition on Screen series, linked in with the National Gallery in London’s Michelangelo/Sebastiano exhibition that closed in late June, features expert commentators such as the art critics Martin Gayford and Jonathan Jones and Vatican Museum and National Gallery curators, who illuminate various facts about the bravura artist and reveal the passionate and ambitious man behind the work.
Use is made of letters by Michelangelo and his contemporaries, and quotes from the Vasari and Condivi biographies, in particular. We also hear some of Michelangelo’s poetry (one of which is set to a madrigal). His life and work are placed in context (Florence and Rome in the 16th century were turbulent times) and we learn of his friendship with and patronage by the Medicis and three Popes.
Michelangelo was a Renaissance man, a man of many talents – sculptor, painter, poet, architect and military fortifications designer among other things who towers over almost all others of the period.
At around the age of 13 he was apprenticed to the renowned artist Ghirlandaio who, recognising the boy’s talent, sent him off to Lorenzo de’ Medici’s Academy for young artists. We see his anatomical study drawings (extremely advanced for the time) and learn of his love of the male body. (His most probable homosexuality is discreetly hinted at, but the film claims he was celibate and lived for his work. The film discusses the links between the intellectual ideas of Neoplatonism and Michelangelo’s suspected homosexuality.
Apparently influenced by these philosophies while at the Medici court in Florence, his Neoplatonic beliefs allowed Michelangelo to indulge his love of physical beauty as a means of ascending to a higher spiritual realm.
There is really not much mentioned about his private life. The film also doesn’t really look, except briefly, at two of the most important threads of Michelangelo’s life and the main inspirational driving force behind his work – his complex familial relationships and his jealous rivalry with other artists.
There are stunning aerial and street shots of Rome and Florence and many of Michelangelo’s works are filmed in luminous closeup (for example, the works, David and Pieta and the tomb of Pope Julius 11). Various experts talk about his various techniques and how he was far ahead of his time.
The film, however, barely mentions the fascinating enigma of his huge number of unfinished marbles (26 out of 43) yet examines for a while two recently attributed Michelangelo bronzes in the Fitzwilliam Museum (their attribution to Michelangelo is hotly contested by some leading Michelangelo scholars), two presentation drawings in the Royal Collection (with a rather dull explanation of their mythical imagery), and various plaster casts in the V&A in great detail.
We also learn a bit about how he would have mixed the various inks and paints he used, and his techniques for sculpting.
Michelangelo lived until he was 88 and the film lightly glosses over the impact of his advanced achievements whilst under 30 – although we do see two of his early works in particular, The Madonna of the Steps and The Battle of the Centaurs – and doesn’t really bring to life his whirlwind Terribilità (terrifying force).
A fascinating, at times almost overwhelming look at one of the greatest artists of all time.
Running time : Just over 90 minutes no interval.
EXHIBITION ON SCREEN :MICHELANGELO LOVE AND DEATH Is currently screening at selected arthouse cinemas.
