STEVEN ZUCKER: We're
in the Musee du Louvre, and we're looking at
Michelangelo's "Two Slaves." These were originally intended
for Pope Julius II's tomb, and they date from 1513 to 1515. BETH HARRIS: So Pope
Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to sculpt his tomb. The original plans were
for a very elaborate tomb with more than 40 figures. Michelangelo was
pulled off to paint the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel. Then the tomb was redesigned. And there were
three figures made for this next
version of the tomb-- the two slaves that we see
here together with Moses, who is actually on the current
version of the tomb, which is in San Pietro
in Vincoli in Rome. These two figures were not
needed for that final version, and so here they
are in the Louvre. STEVEN ZUCKER:
Immediately I start to try to imagine what
these figures would look like with the Moses, which
is this extraordinarily powerful figure, but
interestingly, is seated, whereas these figures
are ineffectual, and yet they're standing. They're vertical. BETH HARRIS: The figure
known as "The Dying Slave--" and of course,
these aren't titles that Michelangelo gave
them, but titles-- STEVEN ZUCKER: Right, they're
later attributed titles. BETH HARRIS: --that
they acquired-- is a very internalized figure. His eyes are closed. He seems to be in a
trance-like state. He seems to be in another place,
compared to the figure known as "The Bound Slave" that
struggles against the ties that bind him and seems to
look upward toward God. There's a Neoplatonic
interpretation of these figures, struggling to
be free from the earthly realm and struggling to
be one with God. STEVEN ZUCKER: He does allow
those figures to remain bound to the stone, bound to the rock. And this is a really
interesting aspect of Michelangelo's sculpture. He's willing to allow the
raw stone to remain visible. BETH HARRIS: And
Michelangelo talked about how when he looked
at a block of marble, he saw a figure struggling to
be free from within that marble. The figure of "The Bound
Slave" is bound up in himself. His body is really twisted in
a serpentine position that's different from
"The Dying Slave." STEVEN ZUCKER: It's also that
his actual anatomy is heavier. His muscles are larger. He's a more mature figure. BETH HARRIS: That
makes that journey to transcend even more powerful. If you look at the
muscles of the arms, they're not as
athletically perfect. And his proportions are wider. STEVEN ZUCKER: They are. And he's actually
distorting his own body. The way that arm that you
mentioned just a moment ago actually presses
against his side actually sort of pushes
it out and creates a kind of distortion. BETH HARRIS: And
the face is wider. It's more unfinished. And the head moves in an
almost painful way, up and back in the opposite way
that the shoulders move. And then the shoulders move
in the opposite direction of the hips. If you think about how
expressive the body becomes under Michelangelo, this
is the best example. STEVEN ZUCKER: Looking at these
sculptures for just a moment, even though there's raw
stone still attached to them, you begin to forget very
quickly that this is something that was once a block of marble. BETH HARRIS: Yeah.