''Crouching Boy'' is a sculpture of the Renaissance Italian painter and sculptor
Michelangelo, preserved today at the
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...
in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. It is the only work by Michelangelo in the Hermitage. It was originally intended for the tomb of the
Medici
The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...
family in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
.
Description
The ''Crouching Boy'' is a 54 cm
marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
sculpture and shows a boy, naked and turned in on himself, perhaps pulling a thorn from his foot. Even though the statue is not well finished, facial features, hair and body shapes are easily recognizable.
See also
*
List of works by Michelangelo
The following is a list of works of painting, sculpture and architecture by the Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the ...
*
Non finito
''Non finito'' is a sculpting technique meaning that the work is unfinished. Italian in etymology, it literally means "not finished". ''Non finito'' sculptures appear unfinished because the artist only sculpts part of the block, the figure someti ...
References
External links
''Crouching Boy'' page on the Hermitage Museum website*
Sculptures by Michelangelo
1530s sculptures
Marble sculptures in Russia
Nude sculptures in Russia
Sculptures of children
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