“Your elder brothers,” I said.
“I should like to think so,” Rodin answered with a sigh. We were now before the Captives, by Michael Angelo. We first looked at the one on the right, which is seen in profile. “Look! only two great planes. The legs to one side, the body to the opposite side. This gives great strength to the attitude. No balance of levels. The right hip is the higher, and the right shoulder is also higher. So the movement acquires amplitude. Observe the line of plumb—it falls not on one foot, but between the two; so both legs bear the body and seem to make an effort.
A Captive
By Michael Angelo
“Let us consider, finally, the general aspect. It is that of a console; the bent legs project, the retreating chest forms a hollow. It is the confirmation of what I demonstrated in my studio with the clay model.”
Then, turning towards the other captive: “Here again the form of the console is designed, not by the retreating chest, but by the raised elbow, which hangs forward. As I have already told you, this particular silhouette is that of all the statuary of the Middle Ages.
“You find this form of the console in the Virgin seated leaning over her child; in the Christ nailed on the cross, the legs bent, the body bowed towards the men whom His suffering would redeem; in the Mater Dolorosa who bends above the body of her Son.
“Michael Angelo, I repeat, is only the last and greatest of the Gothics.
“The soul thrown back upon itself, suffering, disgust of life, contention against the bonds of matter—such are the elements of his inspiration.
“The captives are held by bonds so weak that it seems easy to break them. But the sculptor wished to show that their bondage is, above all, a moral one. For, although he has represented in these figures the provinces conquered by Pope Julius II., he has given them a symbolic value. Each one of his prisoners is the human soul which would burst the bounds of its corporeal envelope in order to possess unlimited liberty. Look at the captive on the right. He has the face of Beethoven. Michael Angelo has divined the features of that most unhappy of great musicians.