MICHELANGELO’s Dying Slaves are always worth a little pilgrimage to the Louvre. Many years ago I wrote an essay on them at university so really I should have lots of interesting things to say, but what sticks in my mind is that the way he carved them seems to me like pulling the plug in the bath and letting the water drain out around your body. The figure is gradually revealed from the block in the same way. But what makes them seem so radical is the fact that Michelangelo (through intent or perhaps problems with the block) left the stone to show, so rough and smooth sit flesh-by-stone. After all the perfect Roman and Greek sculptures it feels like ‘truth to materials’ - the slave is being literally freed from the stone, as if awakening from a slumber, or an erotic revery. Hardly appropriate for a Pope’s tomb. #michelangelo #dyingslave #louvre #louvremuseum #sculpture #renaissanceart #marble #stone #arthistory (at Musée du Louvre) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtYZDM4lJ-S/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=o1ta0uxtttn6
