''Brutus'' is a marble bust of

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Ser ...

sculpted 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 in ...

around 1539–1540. It is now in 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'' appears ...

museum in

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 ...

. The sculpture gives Brutus a heroic aspect in keeping with political sentiment against tyranny at the time of its creation. It belongs to—and may have initiated—a revival of the classical

bust Bust commonly refers to: * A woman's breasts * Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders * An arrest Bust may also refer to: Places *Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France *Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically Media * ''Bust'' (magazin ...

in sculpture.

Background

carved ''Brutus'' a few years after the defeat of the

Republic of Florence The Republic of Florence, officially the Florentine Republic ( it, Repubblica Fiorentina, , or ), was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Flo ...

(1527–1531). As a supporter of the Florentine Republic who designed and supervised the remodeling and construction of its fortifications, Michelangelo was a strong opponent of

tyranny A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to ...

Charles de Tolnay Charles de Tolnay, born Károly von Tolnai (May 27, 1899 – January 17, 1981), was a Hungarian art historian and an expert on Michelangelo. According to Erwin Panofsky, he was "one of the most brilliant art historians" of his time.Ulrike Wendla ...

, ''Michelangelo: Sculptor, Painter, Architect'' (translated from French by Gaynor Woodhouse) (Princeton, NJ; Princeton University Press: 1975) pp. 43–45, 61–63, 173. In the ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature a ...

'',

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His '' Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...

had placed

among the lowest of the low. Michelangelo was much devoted to the poems of Dante, but with the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

, Brutus came to be seen as a strong and defiant opponent of tyranny. "During the Renaissance, with the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...

seen as the beginning of the

decadence of Rome Roman decadence refers to the popular criticism of the culture of the later Roman Empire's elites, seen also in much of its earlier historiography and 19th and early 20th century art depicting Roman life. This criticism describes the later Roman Em ...

, a veritable cult of Brutus developed", Michelangelo's biographer

writes. During the years following the capitulation of Florence, Michelangelo remained in contact with some of the former leaders of the Republic, men who championed the liberty of the

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

and opposed

Medicean 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 ...

tyranny. De Tolnay believes that one of these men, namely

Donato Giannotti Donato Giannotti (27 November 1492 – December 1573) was an Italian political writer and playwright. He was one of the leaders of the short-lived Florentine Republic of 1527. He subsequently wrote theoretical works on republicanism. After the ...

, inspired the bust of Brutus. "The Bust is important for understanding ichelangeloBuonarroti's political views", De Tolnay states. "Michelangelo's conception of Brutus is clearly expressed in this bust: It represents heroic scorn for those who would destroy liberty". Contemporaries may have connected the sculpture with the assassination of

Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence Alessandro is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Alexander. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Alessandro * Alessandro Allori (1535–1607), Italian portrait painter * Alessandro Bari ...

, by

Lorenzino de' Medici Lorenzino de' Medici (23 March 1514 – 26 February 1548), also known as Lorenzaccio, was an Italian politician, writer, and dramatist, and a member of the Medici family. He became famous for assassinating his cousin, Alessandro de' Medici, Duk ...

in 1537. Johannes Wilde, another Michelangelo scholar, also sees the Brutus as a "glorification of liberty from tyranny". Wilde suggests that the sculpture remained unfinished.

Date

De Tolnay suggests that the bust was created around 1539–1540. The

Museo Nazionale del 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'' appea ...

, where the sculpture is usually displayed, also dates the work to 1539–1540National Museum of Bargello
accessed 4 November 2017. Thomas Martin questions this date, which originates with

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 ...

, noting that ''Brutus'' did not leave Michelangelo's workshop until about 1555, suggesting that the sculpture might have been crafted over a long period, and was perhaps commissioned to commemorate the death of Lorenzino de' Medici in 1548."Michelangelo's 'Brutus' and the Classicizing Portrait Bust in Sixteenth-Century Italy", ''Artibus et Historiae'' 14(27), 1993
JSTOR
The work is generally considered to have been influential in reviving the classical

form in sculpture. In Martin's view, however, the later dates of the sculpture make it a latecomer to the trend. ''Brutus'' is compared with a marble bust of Duke Cosimo I created by

Bartolommeo Bandinelli Baccio Bandinelli (also called Bartolommeo Brandini; 12 November 1493 – shortly before 7 February 1560), was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, draughtsman, and painter. Biography Bandinelli was the son of a prominent Florentine goldsmith ...

in 1543–1545 and another bust of Duke Cosimo created by

Benvenuto Cellini Benvenuto Cellini (, ; 3 November 150013 February 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author. His best-known extant works include the '' Cellini Salt Cellar'', the sculpture of '' Perseus with the Head of Medusa'', and his autobiogra ...

in 1545–1547.

The work

The sculpture was commissioned by the republican Donato Giannotti for Cardinal

Niccolò Ridolfi Niccolò Ridolfi (1501 – 31 January 1550) was an Italian cardinal. Early life Born in Florence, son of Piero Ridolfi and Contessina de' Medici (the daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici the Magnificent). His father was a Gonfaloniere of Justice. Th ...

. The face of the sculpture is asymmetrical, with the side turned away from the spectator showing more signs of emotion, including a flared nostril.

Fibula as a study for the head

Brutus fibula compared with antique coin

wrote that Michelangelo had modeled Brutus from the image cut into a gem. Later scholars did not find the work to resemble any such extant gem, supposing instead that it may have been modeled after a bust of

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor ...

.Irving Lavin, "On Illusion and Allusion in Italian Sixteenth-Century Portrait u", ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'' 119(5), October 15, 1975
JSTOR
De Tolnay in 1935 published his observation that the

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a human leg, leg bone on the Lateral (anatomy), lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long ...

in the sculpture is a study for the sculpture itself, providing a missing link to show the resemblance to classical coinage.Charles Tolnay, "Michelangelo's Bust of ''Brutus''", ''The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 67(338), July 1935
JSTOR
The shape of the head itself is simpler than that of the silhouette on the shoulder. According to de Tolnay:

In the former (the fibula), the silhouette of the head is roundish; the forehead in relief shows movement; the outline of the nose is undulating; the line of the lips is soft; the chin is sharply rounded. In the latter (the bust), everything is simplified for cutting; the comparatively small head rises above an unusually broad bull-neck, and has an almost straight rectangular silhouette; the forehead is quite smoothed off; the nose is severely straight; the lips are hard; the chin is angular and protruding. The minor details have disappeared and only the form as a whole remains effective. This evolution from an empirical, individual prototype to a universal, ideal type is characteristic of Michelangelo's procedure, and may be seen even in his early work.

References

External links