Sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti “Moses”. The height of the sculpture is 235 cm, marble. In a performance a few years after the Louvre captives “Moses” Michelangelo returns to the image of a man of indestructible power. In the angry prophet, who, seeing the apostasy of his people from the law, is ready to break the tables of the covenant, the sculptor created a powerful image of a national leader, a man of solid character and volcanic power of passion.
Comparison of “Moses” with the closest in spirit “David” gives an opportunity to catch the features of Michelangelo’s art at the new stage of his creative evolution. The youthful courage of “David” expressed a person’s unlimited confidence in the ability to overcome any obstacles. Energy, active efficacy were expressed in it so organically that the giant scale of the statue itself did not seem exaggerated.
The image of “Moses”, on the contrary, indicates that the will of a person encounters obstacles, for overcoming of which the tension of all his forces is necessary. The Michelangelo terribilita here reaches extreme sharpness: the increased volitional tension of the image is expressed not only in the eerily threatening look of Moses, but also in the hyperbolized power of his physique, in the tension of muscles; it is felt in every detail – from the sharply crumpled folds of clothing to the rapidly writhing strands of the great beard of the prophet.
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