What we see today in the left nave of the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli, is but a shadow of a great design, which was to make Michelangelo even more famous, and for ages commemorate his patron – Pope Julius II. In the middle of the statue we will notice the outstanding sculpture of Moses, next to whom in the niches there are two standing statues of women – these are Rachel and Lea, Old Testament heroines – the personifications of a contemplative life and an active life. Above them we will see statues of Sybil and the Prophet, while in the middle the tombstone of the pope and the Madonna with Child situated above him. It is not necessary to be an expert in art, in order to notice a certain lack of fitting, inappropriate proportions of the whole, the much too heavy bottom of the monument and the “released” top. When Michelangelo saw this composition, 40 years after he submitted the initial design, he had to have tears in his eyes. After all, he did admit that it is an opera tragica? Why?

It all started with a commission which the young sculptor acquired after Julius II had ascended upon St. Peter’s throne. The papal tomb was to be enormous – accessible from four sides and grander than any before. It was to be four times larger than the one we see today, and it was to be adorned with forty figures and stand near the throne of St. Peter in the Vatican Basilica. The then, thirty-year old artist, inspired by the perspective of such a prestigious task, organized his workshop, selecting the proper marble blocks during a long stay in Carrara and waited for money to arrive to begin his work. However, the pope had changed his mind. Was he ashamed of his pride, or perhaps terrified by the cost, or maybe other designs had filled his imagination? Regardless, the sculptor waited in the papal corridors, unsuccessfully awaiting an audience. Finally, angry and embittered he left to go to Florence. Offended, with his pride hurt he returned when the pope encouraged him with renewed perspective of work. However, he was faced with disappointment, even more hurtful, because the suspicious in nature Michelangelo saw it as a way to ridicule and humiliate him in the eyes of his colleagues and the whole artistic world. He, an outstanding artist, was given the task of… a painter. As we know, frescoes which he created in the Sistine Chapel (vault of the Sistine Chapel) commemorate his name until today, on the other hand nobody remembers the monument of Julius II. However, he saw it in a very different light. Work on the paintings was for him a form of humiliation, even more so because the works on the monument were halted.

The death of the pope in 1513 brought about a change in the concept of the tomb. And it was then, between the years 1513 and 1515 that the statue of Moses was created along with six prisoners (presently in the Louvre in Paris and in Florence). The size of the statue was reduced and a free-standing version was discarded. However, this design was also not finalized. Subsequent popes and heirs desired a more modest tomb, decisions were postponed or avoided, while Michelangelo created subsequent versions, looking on with disappointment at the remains of his immense vision. As a result six versions of the papal tombstone were created, and finally in 1545 it was finished with the participation of other artists. With his own hands Buonarroti completed the aforementioned statue of Moses, the accompanying figures of Rachel and Lea, as well as the statue of the pope resting upon the sarcophagus. Out of all the works, which due to low quality were not associated with the divine Michelangelo, Moses is the most outstanding and it is he that draws the attention of those visiting the basilica. It should come as no surprise: it would be difficult to imagine a better, carved in stone, biblical leader and spiritual guide for the Israelites, lawgiver and the author of the Pentateuch. The prophet’s face shows a dignified severity, but also expressiveness, depicting his body, moved but at the same time static, shows sensibility and distinction, while the virtuosity with which Michelangelo draped the prophet’s beard and showed his filled with veins palms, in unequaled. Here is Moses, after a conversation with God, bringing the tablets with laws seen at his side, which were to guide his people from now on.

The statue immediately aroused admiration, until then nobody, not taking into account the recently discovered on Esquiline Hill (1506) Laocoön and His Sons, was able to give so much life to a sculpture. The horns upon Moses’s head were not a surprise either, although today they arouse curiosity. They were created due to the universally prevalent translation of the Bible, by St. Jerome (Vulgate). He, in describing the head of Moses, descending from the Sinai, glowing with divine light after a meeting with the Almighty, translated the Hebrew word qaran meaning both rays of light as well as horns, using the second meaning. And that is how due to Jerome’s mistake, the popular representation of a horned Moses in art, came about.

Moses, Michelangelo, Basilica San Pietro in Vincoli