Bearded Slave

When exactly this figure was carved is still argued over. Some scholars date the four Florentine captives as far back as 1519, others to the first years of the 1520s, and the museum places them in the early 1530s. All four were meant for the tomb of Pope Julius II. Whatever the year, this is the one Michelangelo took furthest. The thick curly beard that gives it its name is fully cut, and the chest and belly are modelled muscle by muscle, while the lower legs and the base are still rough stone. One arm is bent up over the head, the other hangs down along the body. A band of cloth is drawn tight around the legs, a motif that turns up again and again in his sculpture.