Michelangelo Buonarroti Essay

Non finito is latin for “not finished”. Later on in Michelangelo’s career there were many of his works that were left unfinished either by his own hand, display problems, or a variety of complications. Both he and Leonardo de’ Vinci were known for their works that were left uncompleted. This commonality was in a way what set these two artists apart stating that their perfection in the art was unable to properly executed. Michelangelo only signed his name on any of his works once in his career the St. Peter’s pieta. Also he was audacious enough to put it directly on a sash across Mary’s chest. “MICHEAL.AGELUS.BONAROTUS.FLORENT.FACIEBA” In latin this translates to “I Michelangelo buonarroti from Florence made this.” While there are many artists who have signed their own works of …show more content…
The signature verb, to make, is incomplete, and this in itself is confusing however, when placed in context of what Michelangelo said about himself and his works it seems that this small manipulation was a foreshadowing event to his entirety as an artist. The way in which he signed it was indicative of his nature, he wrote his name bold and in the center, easy to see, but the rest was written smaller to fit. This seems to point out his egocentric and inflated sense of self. In one way this was well deserved since he was celebrated as the epitome of renaissance artists. But we know that this arrogant attitude was cause for several confrontations during his life. There are lots of theories on why he wrote his name on the statue including how he overheard people saying it was done by another artist, or he was showboating and wanted everyone to assume his divine influence. For any reason we understand that he sculpted the pieta with the intent to sign it in that exact place due to the sash. Because there is no other artistic or structural reason for it to be