Michelangelo's Apollo and pathos: an anatomical and anthropometric interpretation

Michelangelo was a complex personality with strong conflicting emotions. Most prevalent, in both his life and subsequently his work, were the contrasting feelings of grandeur (Apollo) and pathos. He used his extensive knowledge of anatomy to convey expressions of justice, power and awe in works like David, Moses, and Christ in the Last Judgment. In his more mature years he gravitates to works depicting suffering (pathos) and the physical decline of the human body as seen in the captives for the tomb of Pope Julius II and the female subjects in the Medici Chapel. The Renaissance belief in humanism, influenced by the study of antiquity, put man at the centre of the universe. Michelangelo, more than any other artist of the time, was an ardent exponent of this trend. His interest in the human body, though paramount, ranged far beyond the mere depiction of anatomical details or naturalism in art. The human body, which no artist since the ancient Greeks held in such high esteem, was the vehicle through which he sought to portray the inner life of the spirit. He was more interested in the universal spirit shining through the individual. It is this quality that enables him to speak to us across the boundaries of time and space. He never says, "I want you to recognize this man." Instead, he says, "I want you to recognize yourself and through yourself all mankind". Some of the outward manifestations of the life of the spirit were, to Michelangelo and to men of his time, beauty, justice, noble courage and awe-inspiring righteousness. It is not surprising, therefore, that two of the most important themes expressed in his art are Apollo (beauty and justice) and pathos (the spiritual struggle of man on earth) and that the sole form he deemed appropriate for embodiment of these lofty ideas was the human nude.