by Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News
Michelangelo Buonarroti, one of the greatest figures of western civilization, was an ugly and rather unclean man, according to a series of rare, contemporary portraits and writings on show in Florence. Running at the Museum of the Casa Buonarroti until the end of the month, the exhibition, “The Face of Michelangelo,”
mercilessly reveals that the artist did not use himself as a model for his celebration of male beauty when he sculpted David.
“Most of all, he was perfectly aware of his ugliness and did not want to be portrayed. Indeed, he left no documented self-portrait.” Portraits by contemporary artists, along with an unmerciful description by the 16th century painter and art historian Giorgio Vasari, are also on display. All the works leave no doubt about Michelangelo’s reluctance to pose for portraits. Disfigured at age 17 when a fellow student smashed his nose, Michelangelo had small eyes, large ears, thin lips and a forked, thin beard.
Complete story, and slide show”
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/21/michelangelo-portraits.html
Very interesting. I do admire his art but had never seen what he looked like. Not that it really matters, I don’t judge people “by their covers”, just books sometimes. LOL!
BTW, I nominated you for an award on my blog.
michelangelo wasn’t ugly!
I would know, I spent 3 weeks researching him:
http://www.quotemaniac.com/Michelangelobio.html