''The Genius of Victory'' is a 1532–1534 marble sculpture by

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was ins ...

, produced as part of a design for the tomb of Pope Julius II. It is 2.61 m high and is now in the Salone dei Cinquecento of the

Palazzo Vecchio The Palazzo Vecchio ( "Old Palace") is the town hall of Florence, Italy. It overlooks the Piazza della Signoria, which holds a copy of Michelangelo's ''David'' statue, and the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi. Originally ...

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

History

The exact date of execution of the statue is unknown, but it is usually related to the project for the tomb of Julius II. It is thought to have been intended for one of the lower niches of one of the last projects for the tomb, perhaps that of 1532 for which the so-called ''Captives'' or "Provinces" now in the

Galleria dell'Accademia The Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze, or "Gallery of the Academy of Florence", is an art museum in Florence, Italy. It is best known as the home of Michelangelo's sculpture ''David''. It also has other sculptures by Michelangelo and a large ...

of Florence may have also been made. On the other hand, the monument may have been coupled with a similar pair of fighters, a clay model in the

Casa Buonarroti Casa Buonarroti is a museum in Florence, Italy. The building was a property owned by the sculptor Michelangelo, which he left to his nephew, Leonardo Buonarroti. The house was converted into a museum dedicated to the artist by his great nephew, Mi ...

– the so-called Hercules-Samson. With the famous statue unfinished, ''Victory'' forms an interesting footnote in history: left in the artist's studio after his final departure from Florence in 1534, it became the property of his nephew Leonardo Buonarroti, who first tried to sell it in 1544 without obtaining the necessary authorization from his uncle. Then, at the suggestion of

Daniele da Volterra Daniele Ricciarelli (; 15094 April 1566), better known as Daniele da Volterra (, ), was a Mannerist Italian painter and sculptor. He is best remembered for his association with the late Michelangelo. Several of Daniele's most important wo ...

, he tried to place it on Michelangelo's tomb in Santa Croce (1564), but

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

, who was redesigning the church's interior, was against it being used there. At Vasari's suggestion, the statue was given to Duke Cosimo I de' Medici that year. Two early "Captives" originally intended for Julius's tomb ended up in France, while four larger figures, created much later, now in Florence's Accademia, were initially placed in Buontalenti's Grotto in the

Boboli Gardens The Boboli Gardens ( it, Giardino di Boboli) is a historical park of the city of Florence that was opened to the public in 1766. Originally designed for the Medici, it represents one of the first and most important examples of the Italian garden, ...

, after the artist's death. The ''Victory'' came to decorate the Salone dei Cinquecento of the Palazzo Vecchio. It was placed along the wall, among other victory groups inspired by Michelangelo's, such as the statues of the Labors of Hercules by

Vincenzo de' Rossi Vincenzo de' Rossi (b. Fiesole, 1525. d. Florence, 1587) was an Italian sculptor. Work Rossi was mentored by Baccio Bandinelli. Many of Rossi's works historically were incorrectly attributed to Michelangelo, such as ''Dying Adonis''. Some ...

and others. In 1868, three years after the opening of the National Museum of the

Bargello The Bargello, also known as the Palazzo del Bargello, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, or Palazzo del Popolo (Palace of the People), was a former barracks and prison, now an art museum, in Florence, Italy. Terminology The word ''bargello'' appear ...

, the statue was included in the collection of Florentine sculpture gathered in the museum. It was returned to the Palazzo Vecchio on 6 November 1921, and placed in a niche in the center of the back wall of the room, where, since the time Florence had been the capital of Italy (1865), the 19th-century statue of Savonarola had stood (now in Piazza Savonarola). Only in recent years has the ''Victory'' been restored to its former position along the right wall.

Description and style

The dating and attribution of the statue to the project of the tomb are based on stylistic elements that link the work to the Captives: the twisting of the body and the vigorous anatomy, as well as comparable proportions. In addition, the head has a crown of oak leaves that allude to the Della Rovere emblem. The sculpture does not represent a moment of fighting, but rather serves as an allegory of victoriousness. It depicts the winner who dominates the submissive loser with great agility, with one leg that blocks the body of the captive, who is folded and chained. The young man who is the victor is beautiful and elegant, while the dominated man is old and bearded, and dressed in the garb of an ancient Roman warrior. The surfaces are treated expressively to enhance the contrast between the two figures: the young polished to perfection, the old rough and incomplete, still retaining the compressed boulder-like solidity of the heavy stone from which it was made. According to some scholars, the inspiration for the titular figure was Tommaso dei Cavalieri, a young Roman nobleman known to Michelangelo in Rome in 1532, to whom he dedicated love poems, and the older figure alludes to Michelangelo himself.Roy Doliner, Benjamin Blech, ''I segreti della Sistina. Il messaggio proibito di Michelangelo'', RCS Libri, Milano 2008, pp. 304-306.

References

External links

Catalog entry
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Genius of Victory Tomb of Pope Julius II Sculptures by Michelangelo Marble sculptures in Italy 1530s sculptures Palazzo Vecchio

History

Description and style

Further reading

See also

References

External links