ABSTRACT
The philosophical and artistic aspects of Michelangelo's works were dramatically augmented by newly accessible, or newly discovered, antique sculptures such as the Apollo Belvedere, the Laocoon, and the Belvedere Torso. Michelangelo had originally planned a series of female Victories to counter the theme of the Captives, but at a later date the plan was changed to show two male Victory groups. In Michelangelo's creative corpus people can perhaps trace his own personal 'journey of the Soul to God'. The sculptural perfection and beauty of the human body of Christ, covered only by a narrow loincloth, becomes Michelangelo's image of God on this earth. The human body conveys the Platonic idea of beauty and reveals the creativity of the Christian God. The Platonic belief that man could return to the unity of the One through divine contemplation of love as beauty became fused with the Christian belief in salvation through grace during the Florentine Renaissance.
