New Sacristy (Medici Chapel)

Medici Chapel, San Lorenzo
Picture taken by Cava H.

In 1519, Michelangelo was commissioned by the Medici popes to build a funerary chapel, the New Sacristy, attached to the Basilica of San Lorenzo. Michelangelo sculpted tombs of Giuliano and Lorenzo Medici at opposite sides of the New Sacristy. Instead of sculpting the likenesses of Giuliano and Lorenzo, Michelangelo sculpted Giuliano alert and clad in the armor of a Roman emperor, holding a commander's baton. Lorenzo is depicted deep in thought. The sculptures of Giuliano and Lorenzo illustrate the neo-platonic concept of active versus contemplative life. They also symbolize two ways for humans to achieve union with God. Below Giuliano's sculpture, Michelangelo carved a female and a male figure representing Night and Day. The muscular female figure appears masculine because Michelangelo used male models even for his female figures. The figures are tense and twisted in anguish, similar to the twisting of bodies in his “Bound Slave” sculptures and in his Sistine Chapel paintings. Michelangelo's style shows a gradual move from Renaissance art towards Mannerism.