The personal writings of Michelangelo express his feelings
and views on art and its spiritual connections to the divine and the audience.
Michelangelo struggled between his passions and admiration towards the male
figure and his desire for God and reaching salvation. He viewed his lustful
appeals of the figure as separation from God. To unify the two Michelangelo chose
to convey the male form as a divine beauty. Rather than focusing on grace and
beauty, he conveyed the idea and revealed a spiritual state in his figures. In
effect, he raises the mind to contemplate divine beauty rather than physical
beauty. Like Leonardo, Michelangelo studied life scientifically and anatomy. He
used nature to conform to this ideal form of the human figure.
See "Creatively Curating Christine"s blog for hers and my comments on these readings; would like to hear your response
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