Dying Prisoner
Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475–1564)
1852-1870
- Medium
- Plaster cast
- Classification
- Statue
- Dimensions
- height 228 cm, width 74 cm
- Culture
- Italian
- Museum
- SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
The dying slave writhes in a mixture of pain and ecstasy. The complex contradiction is typical of Michelangelo’s figures. The slave twists in a manner that clearly shows the impact the Laocoön group had on the artist. However, the works of Antiquity do not encompass such paradoxes as the one inherent in this figure, nor the earnestness of the figure’s emotions. The fighting and dying heroes of Antiquity do not have complex psyches; their inner and outer appearances are not at odds. They live and die in accordance with the will of the gods, fate, and a clear sense of meaning and purpose, not as victims of ambiguous desires and emotions, whether their own or those of others. Here, formal experiments come together in a work with clear sadomasochistic features. This cast is among the oldest in the collection. It belonged to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts before it came here, and it has been much used for drawing classes. You are very welcome to try your hand at drawing it yourself!
