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Michelangelo and The Pope
By peace | September 12, 2010
Michelangelo at the marble quarry
Pope Julius II was strong-headed and often argued with Michelangelo. He was the artist’s greatest supporter. The above photograph shows a picture of a marble quarry in which Michelangelo spent about eight months working in these quarries to get the best white marble for Pope Julius II’s tomb. He had used Carrara marble for the Pieta and David.
In 1503, Julius II was named Pope, the head of the Catholic Church. As soon as he took up his post, he commissioned Michelangelo, who was 27 to begin work on his tomb. He wanted to use Michelangelo’s genius to secure himself a place in history. Michelangelo quickly drew up a plan that was not only accepted by Julius II, but also stirred his greater ambitions. He decided to completely renovate St Peter’s Basilica and place his tomb within it.
Greatly encouraged and full of expectation, Michelangelo set to work. Taking several assistants with him, he went to Carrara to select the stones to be used, and remained there for eight months, soaking up inspiration from the stone and the environment.
The selected stones were loaded onto boats for the trip to Rome, but unexpected flooding of the Tiber River delayed their departure for some time. When the stones finally made it to Rome, Julius II, engrossed with the rebuilding of St Peter and short of money, failed to pay the shippers as agreed. Michelangelo went to talk to him but was told the Pope was too busy to see him. Furious, Michelangelo left the city the same night for Florence. As soon as the Pope heard of this, he sent five men after him, but Michelangelo refused to return.
In Florence, Michelangelo began work on a mural for the Council Hall. Three times the Pope sent orders for him to return to Rome, but Michelangelo ignored them until Pier Sodieri persuaded him to go to Bologna where the Pope was visiting. Michelangelo entered and knelt before him. The Pope, who was almost angry, glared at him with half-real anger and said,”So, you’ve waited until I came to you.”
With gifts and promises, the Pope got Michelangelo to return to Rome. Instead of asking him to continue work on the tomb, the Pope ordered him to make a bronze statue. The Pope no longer wanted his tomb built, believing it would be bad luck if the tomb were built while he was still alive. Michelangelo angrily left Rome and went to Florence. The pope ordered him to return so that he could make a sculpture of the pope. Michelangelo returned and made the sculpture. Then the pope asked him to do a bigger job.
Michelangelo and Pope Julius II
Pope Julius was a bold and ambitious man. What he wanted from Michelangelo was a monumental tomb, something that would carry his memory on through the ages. Michelangelo, who also tended to think big, sketched a colossal, freestanding monument of marble, more than 36 feet high, holding 40 statues — all of them larger than life. Julius loved it, but the could not imagine where he could put such a thing. It would have to go in a very large church indeed. This set him to thinking of tearing down the old St Peter’s, the great mother church of the Catholic Faith, built by the emperor Constantine more than a thousand year before. He would replace it with a new St Peter’s, one so big and so splendid it would be the marvel of the world.
When Pope Julius II died in 1513, his tomb was still unfinished. That same year, Mimchelangelo’s boyhood friend Giovanni de Medici became Pope Leo X. He let Michelangelo continue to work on the tomb. The tomb was meant to have 40 statues. Michelangelo carved 2 slave sculptures for it. The slaves stand for the arts, which people believed would be held back by the death of Julius II, their great supporter. From 1513 to 1516, Michelangelo carved most of a sculpture of Moses, a prophet from the Bible. A prophet is a religious leader who speaks as the voice of God.
By 1516, Michelangelo was in Florence working for the Medici family, who had returned to power. Pope Leo wanted him to rebuild San Lorenzo, a church in Florence. He hired Michelangelo to build the chapel and to make four sculptures for the tombs inside it. For 18 years Michelangelo worked on this and other projects. He completed only 2 sculptures for the tombs.
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