Terribilità, the modern Italian spelling, or terribiltà, as
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...
's 16th century contemporaries tended to spell it, is a quality ascribed to his art that provokes terror, awe, or a sense of the sublime in the viewer. It is perhaps especially applied to his
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
s, such as his figures of
''David'' or in
''Moses''.
Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II (; ; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death, in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope, the Battle Pope or the Fearsome ...
was apparently the first to describe Michelangelo as a ''uomo terribile'' ("terror-inducing man"), apparently describing his difficult character as much as his art. This ''terribilità'' also references the
neoplatonics of humanists such as
Marsilio Ficino
Marsilio Ficino (; Latin name: ; 19 October 1433 – 1 October 1499) was an Italian scholar and Catholic priest who was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance. He was an astrologer, a reviver of Neo ...
, who had known Michelangelo in his youth.
Michelangelo's friend and collaborator
Sebastiano del Piombo
Sebastiano del Piombo (; – 21 June 1547) was an Italian painter of the High Renaissance and early Mannerism, Mannerist periods, famous as the only major artist of the period to combine the colouring of the Venetian School (art), Venetian scho ...
reported in a letter to him of 15 October 1520 on a private audience with
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X (; born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, 11 December 14751 December 1521) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1513 to his death in December 1521.
Born into the prominent political and banking Med ...
. After praising Michelangelo's work, the pope continued "But he is ''terribile'', as you see; one cannot deal with him". Sebastiano responded "that your ''terribile'' character did not harm anyone, and that you appear ''terribile'' for love of the great works you carry out."
[Exhibition handlist for "Michelangelo & Sebastiano", 2017, National Gallery. Catalogue # 33, from ]Casa Buonarroti
Casa Buonarroti is a museum in Florence, Italy that is situated on property owned by the sculptor Michelangelo that he left to his nephew, Leonardo Buonarroti. The complex of buildings was converted into a museum dedicated to the artist by his gre ...
, Florence.
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Terribilita
History of art
Michelangelo