Michelangelo's
'Madonna of the Stairs'.
How does an
artist begin to paint?
How does a sculptor produce an image of such high
quality in what is
generally regarded as his first work?
We know that Michelangelo had lived for
sometime with a
stonecutter and his wife during his childhood. Perhaps his introduction
into working with blocks of stone was far more intensive than we first
imagined.
Most artists have early work that can be
used to chart the
later development of their style. But The Madonna of the Stairs seems
at
first glance to be a fully mature piece of sculpture, the carving
of the drapes half covering the infants head is indeed wonderfully
executed.
Perhaps Michelangelo did produce some
inferior earlier work
that has not survived or that he himself destroyed, whatever the
reality may be, this stone masterpiece remains as a wonderfully
realised,
emotionally charged, piece of sculpture.
The
Madonna of the Stairs 1491/92.
Marble
Relief 22x16 inches. (s)
Detail. (s)
Personal
Opinion:-
Some
historians say that this is too sophisticated to be one of
Michelangelo's early sculptures, but look at the carving of the figure
on the left. The arms and legs are not so well defined, the pose is
unsure and dis-proportunate.
In contrast the infant, cradled in the arms
of the Madonna, displays the heavy muscular form that we associate with
Michelangelo's later works.
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