Bearded Slave [SEP] collection
Bearded Slave
The Bearded Slave (Italian: "Schiavo barbuto") is a marble sculpture by Michelangelo datable to around 1525–1530 and kept in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence. It forms part of the series of "unfinished" Prigioni intended for the Tomb of Pope Julius II.
History.
It seems that, from the first design of the Tomb of Pope Julius II (1505), a series of "Prigioni" was planned for the bottom level of the mausoleum, a series of statues larger than life size
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The first members of the series, who are mentioned in Michelangelo's letters are the two "Prigioni" of Paris, named the "Slaves" in the nineteenth century: the "Dying Slave" and the "Rebellious Slave". They were carved in Rome around 1513.
The Florentine "Prigioni" ("Young Slave, Bearded Slave, Atlas Slave" and the "Awakening Slave") were probably carved instead in the second half of the 1520s, while Michelangelo was employed at San Lorenzo in Florence