Young Slave

In 1909 four unfinished captives by Michelangelo came to the Accademia from a grotto in the Boboli Gardens, and the gallery set them along the main corridor leading to the Tribune. Every visitor since has walked between half-freed bodies on the way to the finished David at the end. This figure is the youngest-looking of the four. Like the others, he was carved for the tomb of Pope Julius II, where such captives were meant to stand for vices defeated by virtues. One arm is bent across the top of his head, and his face is almost lost in the crook of it and in the rough stone behind. A knee is drawn up and pushed forward, while the back of the figure is still joined to the block. That same year the unfinished Saint Matthew was moved into the gallery too.