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Michelangelo’s Slaves and the Gift of Liberty*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Maria Ruvoldt
Maria Ruvoldt*
Affiliation:
Fordham University
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Abstract

Sometime between 1544 and 1550, Michelangelo gave two sculptures, the Rebellious Slave and the Dying Slave, to Roberto Strozzi, a fellow Florentine resident in Rome. Although the gift ostensibly signified gratitude for Strozzi’s hospitality during the artist’s convalescence from a grave illness, it had strong political undertones. Shortly after receiving this extraordinary present, Strozzi, most likely with Michelangelo’s consent, gave the sculptures away, presenting them to the King of France as part of an effort to persuade him to intervene on behalf of the Florentine Republic in its final struggle against Medici rule. Michelangelo’s loyalties, both personal and political, were simultaneously revealed and concealed in this act of calculated generosity. This article situates the gift within the context of Michelangelo’s habits of gift-giving, his networks of kinship, and the complicated politics of the 1530s and ’40s.

Type
Studies
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 65 , Issue 4 , Winter 2012 , pp. 1029 - 1059
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Renaissance Society of America

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Footnotes

*

I wish to dedicate this article to David Rosand.

I presented a version of this paper at The Renaissance Society of America’s meeting in San Francisco in 2006. I am indebted to Victoria Gardner Coates, who organized a series of panels with me on “The Art of the Gift/The Artful Gift”; to Alexander Nagel, who was a generous session chair; and to the collegial audience at the RSA for their contributions. I am also grateful to Pamela Fletcher and William E. Wallace, who read and commented on earlier versions of this article, for their insights and encouragement, and to the anonymous readers at RQ for their thoughtful criticism. Further research was supported by a Fordham University Faculty Fellowship.

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