THE YOUNG SLAVE BY MICHELANGELO

Reproduction of one of the famous Slaves, or Prigioni, by Michelangelo Buonarroti.
Product in patinated resin with marble base, made in Tuscany and finished by hand.
The statue is to be found inside the Galleria dell’Accademia.

Part of the Slaves series, Michelangelo’s famous unfinished works, the Young Slave dates from the 1620s. It is perhaps the best-defined sculpture in the series, with the legs and front of the torso well sculpted. The young man portrayed seems to be under great strain, his left arm covering his face and his right thrown behind his body. Like the other Slaves –Bearded Slave, Awakening Slave and Bound Slave – it was intended to serve as decoration for the monumental tomb of Pope Julius II. According to some sources, these subjects represented the provinces subjected by the Pope, or the Arts, cast into slavery by the death of a great patron.