Michelangelo's Moses: speak!!



Moses by Michelangelo

 Pope Julius II commissioned this project, his tomb, to Michelangelo in 1506, but it was only completed in a later date, between 1542-1545, after many years of desegreement with the Pope's heirs. In fact, the pope wanted his monument to be exemplary and Michelangelo planned a burial chamber that would be a truly architectonic structure, with statues of the old and new testament figures at different levels, but obviously the project was never approved.


The project scale was reduced and the work was never placed in St. Peter's but in San Pietro in Vincoli, not far from Via Cavour, where Julius II was ordinated cardinal.

The statue of the Moses shows his extraordinary force, the tension in the veins and muscles, in the posture and in the furious expression: he can't only speak!! That's why this is considered one of his masterpieces, together with the Sistine Chapel and the David in Florence.