Bacchus

Like Donatello in the bronze “David” and the “Eros Atys”, Michelangelo too makes the mythical subject and his “private” interpretation of it real by turning it into an expression of personal problems and interests. The exquisite “cabinet d'amateur” object becomes a poetic confession. Taking up Hellenistic naturalism, Michelangelo expresses a trembling sensual abandon: he reveals the languid unfolding of the body, the ambiguous splendour and soft plasticity of the limbs, the ravishing, insolent spring of the little faun, in the soft flow of the volumes in the light. From the imitation of the antique the artist took his cue to reveal an aspect of life.