Michelangelo's Medici Chapel
Subtitle: a new interpretation
By: Edith Balas.
Series: Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society,; v. 216
Publisher: American Philosophical Society
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Philadelphia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 196
Subjects: Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564 -- Criticism and interpretation; Medici, House of -- Tombs; San Lorenzo (Church : Florence, Italy). Sagrestia nuova; Sculpture, Italian -- Italy -- Florence; Mannerism (Art) -- Italy -- Florence
Description: There are no surviving documents that explain Michelangelo's complex sculptural program for the Medici Chapel. The work as we have it is no more than an unfinished, fragmentary realization of the artist's original conception. Speculation about its meaning began quite early, for Michelangelo's contemporaries were apparently no better informed than we. An interpretation made by Benedetto Varchi in 1549 and since universally accepted, was by his own admission a personal opinion, not confirmed by the artist.

In the sixteenth century, interpretations quite at variance with modern scholarly assumptions were made: for example, a German visitor of 1536 identified the figures now commonly called "Night" and "Day" as "Minerva" and "Hermes."
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-184) and index.