ABSTRACT

With an Italian artist of the sixteenth century the presence of Neoplatonic influences is easier to account for than would be their absence. As Piero di Cosimo might be called the only genuine Epicurean among the many artists influenced by Lucretius, Michelangelo might be called the only genuine Platonic among the many artists influenced by Neoplatonism. Thus Michelangelo's verses, which strike the sensitive Italian ear as harsh and jagged, differ from the more euphonious productions of his contemporaries in that they have the ring of truth. In them the familiar Neoplatonic notions express the same psychological realities which are manifested in his works of art. Where Bandinelli invents personifications to interpret the finer points of the Neoplatonic theory, Michelangelo resorts to Neoplatonism in his search for visual symbols of human life and destiny, as he experienced it. This Neoplatonic symbolism is particularly evident in the Tomb of Julius II and in the Medici Chapel.