Evening star., 1928-04-29
The Story of Civilization

and the head of q genial Bernard Shaw.
Nothing in modern Statuary," says
Taine. lis equal to these colossal fig
ures, and the nobleSt of antique figures
are not superior; they are different
which Is all that one can say" Arc
they exaggerated. these splendid bodies?
and why should evening be represented
by the muscles of Hercules? Let us
be modest and admit that the artist
felt The matter in this way, and prob
ably knew best; doubtless these names
Notte. Giorno Sera, Aurora. were moth
thing 10 him, he was creating human
beings and breathing into them i'm
mortal life PERHAPS. by queer OK
pressioniSm, he made these statues say
not what day and night might be, but
what their creator felt. the torture OF q
genius that would not let him rest and
the gloom of a soul that dreamed OF
perfection and lived in the midst OF
incompetence and tyranny. He longed
to carve out of this stone the hruta!
features of relentless despOts and he
burned ut tho thought that as long rs
the Nj dici ruled Florence end Rome
re would be ut their beck and call On
the baee of the statue that represented
night he engraved four lines OF verse
Witch he bad composed:
Sweet is nv sleep, but more to be
mere stone,
SO long as ruin and dishOnor reign,
To hear narght and feel raught Is
my great gain;
Then wake me not, speak in an
undertone."
Flees From Florence.
Suddenly, while he was still at work
celebrating the Medici dead the living
Medici were expelled from Florence by
4 Republican revolt. Clement VII the
sIedicean Pope who had won the
panacv after the briSf rNigns of Leo
and Adrian bnreeirpd with tho Span
ish Emperor. Charles v. tn hHs;aea the
rebellious city and restore the Medici.
Thn citizers fnueht Though not 50 vali-
emily as Micha'aOgelo dreamed that
men should fight for liberty; ha fought
with them, unstintfngly and when
freedom lost and the city surre06ct 81
he fed from Florence fearing the
vengeance of the Medici Not without
cause; Fra Benedatto. who had in
spired tho Florentincs TO resistance. was
slowly starved to death In the Castle
of SAINT Angelo. in Rome, by daily re-
ducing his allotment of bread and
water Executions were more varied In
hiiDoC udNS tAISii INV. 11ub &iEhlEtib
thought 1t wise to forgive Buonarroti,
finished Michel went back to work
bitterly. but his hatred of despotism
spoke out hravely in his bust of
Brutus-so finely masculine a figure
that. seeing IL. one almost believes that
Caesar deserved his death
Ia 1884 still another Pope. Paul III.
called him to Rome and asked him to
complete his work In the Sistina
Chapel by painting over the altar a
picture of the last judgment Once
more Michelangelo protested that he
was not a painter. But the Pope knew
that no man living could do better, or
as well. and so. after % years of inter-
mission. Angelo assembled the scaffold
again. in the spirit of a criminal con-
demned He was 50 now. and wanted
only TO be left to die in peace: he
could not know that his bent and tor
tured body had still 30 years TO live
and that he must not only paint the
Sistine Chapel but build ST Peters
dome. So he worked on and on. for
eight hard years Once he fell from
the scaffolding. and was so badly hurt
that the Pope feared he would die. He
lay alone at home in his bed refusing
to be treated by physician. but the
best doctor in Rome secretly found
entrance to him and refused to leave
the house I'LL Angelo was well. He
went back TO his task and in 1912 The
Last Judgment was complete.
Worlds Largest Painting.
II Is the largest and most famous
painting In the world. though it's Inn
mensity has unfairly won from the
epic on the ceiling the credit for being
the masters masterpiece. The concep-
tlon OF such wholesale damnation of
men and women to everlasting torment
indicates how far Michelangeio was
from sharing the humanitarian skep-
ucism OF Leonardo Apparently the
artist here takes the barharic notion
OF an everlasting hell with literal
laitn' as with SaVonarola and Luther.
the prophetic rigor In his character In
clined MIN 10 severe theology
To our contemporary prejudice the
picture Is unpleasant; we can no longer
Imagine Diety who would be severer
with human frailitles than the hardest
earthly judge We try to nut this
prejudice aside. and tell ourselves that
this art and not theology; but the
prejudice turks even In our esthetic
Judgment; and we find faults that
might not be there If we we're of a
medieval mind The figure OF Christ
seems absurdly athletic; this is not the
gentle sage who forgave the woman
taken In adultery. But in truth AnaeIo
was not interested in this aspect of the
matter: what stirred him here was the
opportunity TO study the human body
IN O hundred poses and forms. each dis
unctlve and unique. All the figures
are nude. except that of the Virgin, and
few to whose bodies some flying gar
ment partly clings; 1t is a tropical con-
eeption OF heaven. Cardinal Blagio. as