Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00I can still see it, Easter Sunday, during Mass.
00:24My earliest memory carved into my mind.
00:49Ah, Lorenzo de' Medici, who ordered the assassins me hunted down like dogs.
00:57My father lifted me up on his shoulders so I could see.
01:03And what I saw is just what Medici vengeance looked like.
01:11I can still see that broken body twitching on the end of his rope.
01:27Even before I held a chisel in my hand, I knew that this world was not one of beauty and creation alone,
01:44but also of blood and betrayal.
01:53This was the world into which I was born.
01:57The Renaissance is usually regarded as this beautiful period where everything is golden and shiny.
02:18But there is another side to it.
02:20It's endlessly bloody and conflicted and violent.
02:28And that's what the art responds to.
02:30The art feeds off that.
02:40Art is propaganda in the Renaissance.
02:43Images are extraordinarily powerful.
02:46In that respect, it's actually very modern.
02:49This is really the age where patrons realise the power of art.
02:54And once you start to mix art and money, then it's a lethal cocktail.
03:10Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, they are really the first superstar artists.
03:19I am Michelangelo Bonarotti, artist, and an old fool.
03:26He lived for his art, but it was almost like his vocation was a sentence.
03:32I've had so many pain masters, bankers and princes, cardinals and popes.
03:40But what I did was always in the service of God and in the pursuit of perfection.
03:45Two things go hand in hand in the Renaissance, a ruthlessness in politics and a true belief in the power of art.
03:55But to really understand the Renaissance, you have to tell the whole story.
04:00The
04:20By God's providence, I was born a Florentine, so that one of her own citizens could bring
04:40to absolute perfection the achievements for which she was already justly renowned.
04:5015th century Florence is famous for banking, trade, and above all, the skill of its artists.
05:00It's one of a multitude of city-states which make up the Italian peninsula, ruled by dukes,
05:07princes and popes, all of them in a near-constant state of war.
05:13The Italian peninsula is like a massive chessboard with city-states all vying for power.
05:18Different cities at this time are defined through different things, so Venice is connected
05:23to trade with the East, Milan very much, you know, a sort of powerhouse of Northern militarism.
05:29Florence is different.
05:31Florence is the richest, with a reputation as the cultural capital of Europe.
05:37Florence is popping.
05:41Art is flourishing, and art becomes a synonym of the city and an incredibly profitable trade.
05:50It becomes the thing that everybody envies.
05:54I love Florence.
06:00We have more artists than butchers, though some would have made better butchers, truth be told.
06:08The artists themselves aren't exalted in the way that we exalt them now.
06:13They were still, in fact, mostly treated as craftspeople, and were expected to act like tradesmen.
06:20For Michelangelo's family, the job of artist is a lowly ambition.
06:28They come from an aristocratic family, so an artist is at the very lowest social station in a very hierarchical society.
06:36There's a wonderful story about Michelangelo drawing on his kitchen wall and his father beating him,
06:42and this is probably true.
06:43His father absolutely would not want him to become an artist.
06:47This was my destiny.
06:50God brought me into the world to show with these hands how man might attain the perfection of art.
07:03Stubborn and determined, the teenage Michelangelo defies his father
07:08and lands a prestigious apprenticeship in the San Marco Sculpture Garden in Florence.
07:14When I entered that garden, saw the works there and savored their beauty, I never wanted to leave.
07:25I would stay all day there, wrapped in my studies.
07:29All artists learn by copying.
07:35You start by copying sculpture.
07:38You start by copying still things that aren't going to move.
07:44Once he started drawing, Michelangelo was an immensely talented draftsman.
07:50It's quite clear from early on, but he was quite gifted.
07:54It does show the shape of things to come.
07:59As a boy, I could draw better than I do now.
08:03There was little any teacher might have taught me.
08:07Michelangelo has a very high regard of his abilities from a very, very early age.
08:14He's also known to criticise other students about what they are doing and how they could do it better.
08:21This doesn't win him any friends.
08:28I did nothing to warrant that boy's violent outburst.
08:36He could control neither his charcoal nor his fists.
08:41Ignorant worm.
08:42Competition among the young artists is fierce.
08:56Because of all the sculpture studios in Florence,
08:59this one belongs to the wealthiest and most powerful patron in the city.
09:05Not just Florence, but all the arts owe a great debt to one man
09:12who understood the virtue and the value of art better than anybody else.
09:20Lorenzo de' Medici.
09:22The magnificent.
09:25Il magnifico, as he was known.
09:28Lorenzo is head of the vastly wealthy Medici family,
09:34who've ruled Florence for decades.
09:38They're one of the most powerful families in Europe.
09:41They are the preeminent bankers in Europe.
09:44They've made their money through innovations in finance and commerce.
09:48They're developing bills of exchange,
09:50which are our equivalent to paper money.
09:52This is really the seeds of what we would call early capitalism.
09:55The Medici wielding all this power
09:58can be seen a little bit as a mafioso family during the Renaissance.
10:04Nothing moved in that city without Medici approval.
10:11Lorenzo has amassed a vast private art collection.
10:15He also commissions new work.
10:18He himself talks about the way in which he's invested,
10:21the equivalent of tens of millions into the arts.
10:25And he says, this is worth it,
10:27because all of the great patrons in this period
10:30know you spin your politics through art.
10:34Back then, they don't have the exposure to images that we have today.
10:39So when you walk into a church and you see this incredible painting,
10:44it stays with you.
10:45And it's telling a story about who holds the power in that society.
10:51Lorenzo de' Medici really understands the power of images
10:54and understands how to use them.
10:57And art is one of the central ways in which he promotes
11:01the greatness of Florence and the greatness of the Medici.
11:06The Medici understand the value of art.
11:10But not just that.
11:12They also have taste.
11:13They love beauty and they love talent.
11:18And so they foster it.
11:25Here was a man, unique in all qualities of excellence,
11:31to whom I owe such a great debt of gratitude.
11:35Lorenzo saw my ambitious nature.
11:45And he had high hopes for me.
11:50He provided for me a room in his house
11:54and treated me like a son.
12:05Lorenzo falls in love with Michelangelo's art and his talent.
12:10All of a sudden, he is part of the family.
12:13In the Medici household,
12:18Michelangelo is schooled in radical new ideas.
12:23For hundreds of years,
12:25the Catholic Church has dominated the way art is made
12:28and what it can represent.
12:31But Michelangelo is born at a moment
12:33when all that is beginning to change.
12:37Scholars from the East,
12:39fleeing war and persecution,
12:40arrive in Italy,
12:42bringing with them ancient texts and new ideas.
12:47The Renaissance is, in fact, the rebirth.
12:50That's what it means,
12:50or renaissance in Italian.
12:52It means rebirth.
12:53And the rebirth is of the classical ancient world.
12:58The rediscovery of the pagan pre-Christian world
13:01is liberating and shocking.
13:05Statues of Greek and Roman gods,
13:08idealised human forms,
13:10and ideas that focus on the human over the divine.
13:15Books are coming in through Constantinople,
13:18of Plato, of Aristotle, of Quintilian,
13:20of all these other Greco-Roman writers,
13:22literally kind of flooding the market.
13:24And Florence is one of the first places that they hit.
13:28It's an immense period of excitement.
13:30Florence is like the Silicon Valley of the Renaissance.
13:34This is a moment where everything comes together,
13:36money, power, new ideas.
13:38And Lorenzo de' Medici is right at the heart of that.
13:42Nowhere else in Europe at that time
13:44do you have that many people with money,
13:48with aspirations,
13:49trying to achieve something cultural.
13:51And I think those two things together
13:53explain why the Renaissance grows out of Italy.
13:57Powerful men like Lorenzo collect rare texts, antiquities, and treasures
14:03to show off their wealth and intellectual superiority
14:07to literally own ancient wisdom.
14:10I was treated with great affection by Eau Magnifico.
14:17He was sent for me several times a day,
14:20show me his jewels, his canelions, his medals,
14:24and similar things, all of great value.
14:28And every day I would study my art
14:31and show him the results of my efforts.
14:34Alongside collecting ancient art,
14:40Lorenzo collects new talent.
14:43He uses his stable of artists to glorify himself
14:47and to be exchanged as a powerful commodity.
14:51He's sending works of art,
14:53and he's even sending artists off to other city-states
14:56for diplomatic purposes.
14:57Artists are being used in a really astute way by Lorenzo
15:05as sort of pawns in a wider geopolitical game,
15:08and he's very good at it.
15:12Lorenzo identifies a Florentine artist
15:15down in his luck and looking for patronage.
15:19He's 23 years older than Michelangelo,
15:22and his name is Leonardo da Vinci.
15:25Leonardo has his workshop in Florence.
15:30He has a few commissions.
15:31He's trying to get traction,
15:33but he's not quite able to.
15:36He's kind of late in finishing his commissions
15:38and sometimes doesn't finish them at all.
15:41He doesn't have a formal training,
15:43but he insists this is not an obstacle
15:45to being a good artist.
15:46He thinks of himself as someone who studies nature first.
15:49He calls himself a disciple of experience.
15:53He's part of a crowded market.
15:55There are a lot of artists vying for attention.
15:58He's by no means seen as somebody who is the great genius.
16:04Lorenzo sees an opportunity.
16:07He introduces Leonardo to the Duke of Milan
16:09and in the process makes a useful alliance for himself.
16:15Leonardo was restless.
16:18No wonder money was hard to come by,
16:19but to turn up all places to Milan?
16:22Well, that Milanese barbarian, Ludovico Sforza.
16:27Ha!
16:32Ludovico Sforza rules the state of Milan with an iron fist,
16:36but his position is tenuous.
16:39He is the regent,
16:42so will only stay in power until his nephew,
16:45the rightful heir, comes of age.
16:48Quite a lot of these city-states
16:50have kind of bully-boy families
16:52that have clubbed and stabbed their way into power.
16:55Those families were walking a precipice a lot of the time.
16:59Sforza has built a reputation as a ruthless ruler,
17:05but he has enemies on all sides.
17:08As the northernmost Italian state,
17:11Milan faces a threat from the Kingdom of France to the northwest
17:15and constant aggression from rival states to the south.
17:19Leonardo knows that the Duke of Milan is always in battle,
17:25fighting the other Italian city-states,
17:27and so he realizes that the best way to get a job
17:30is not to say,
17:31I can paint Madonnas,
17:32but instead say,
17:34I can make weapons of war.
17:38He ends up writing
17:39what may be the best job application letter in history.
17:44It's, hey, I'm a really good engineer,
17:47so if you want somebody who understands warfare,
17:51if you want somebody who can build you a cannon,
17:54I'm your man.
17:56He only mentions the fact that,
17:58yeah, I can decorate all your palaces, too,
18:00at the end of the letter.
18:03I think Sforza gets exactly what he wants,
18:06and especially at that point
18:08when it's looking like the whole peninsula
18:10is just going to explode into war.
18:12Leonardo joins Sforza's court in Milan
18:18and pleases his patron with everything from war machines
18:22to theatrical stage sets.
18:25He's also given free reign
18:27to immerse himself in study and invention
18:30and to enjoy the intellectual freedom
18:33of Renaissance ideas.
18:34Like many other Renaissance artists,
18:39Leonardo really is starting to look at things
18:42with new eyes.
18:49People like Leonardo are reading texts
18:51which is saying,
18:53look at the world around you,
18:54look at the natural world,
18:56look at the body that we are given,
18:59look at the heavens around you,
19:02study them, analyse them.
19:04Now, for an artist,
19:05this is just, this is catnip,
19:07this is brilliant.
19:08He's doing experiments,
19:10studying mathematics
19:11and applying it to art.
19:13He's understanding perspective.
19:15He studied how the wings of birds
19:17move up and down.
19:20He's dissecting human corpses.
19:23His curiosity and his talents
19:25are so broad.
19:27He has the mind
19:29of a kind of magpie on speed.
19:34Of course,
19:34a court artist
19:35has small commissions
19:38that he has to do
19:39in order to please the Duke.
19:41And one of them
19:41is the portrait
19:43of Ludovico's lover.
19:54Leonardo takes the opportunity
19:56of painting this portrait
19:58to show what he has learned.
19:59Leonardo has this theory
20:04that the body reacts
20:06to the emotions
20:07and moves accordingly.
20:10It is the portrait
20:11of a reaction.
20:13Not an action,
20:14but a reaction.
20:16You feel
20:17that Ludovico Sforza
20:19has just opened the door
20:20to see his mistress
20:21and you see her twisting.
20:24You see the mind moving
20:26and you can almost feel
20:28the body moving.
20:30You can almost feel
20:31what she's thinking.
20:35The ermine represents Ludovico.
20:38He sits on her lap
20:39and is stroked by her,
20:40this beautiful animal.
20:42This is an act of intimacy
20:43between the two lovers.
20:46Lady with an ermine
20:48is an absolute breakthrough
20:50in art.
20:50Suddenly,
20:53paintings aren't just
20:55two-dimensional flat things.
20:58It's making it
20:59into a narrative.
21:02Suddenly,
21:03the artist
21:03is not just somebody
21:05turning out a commission
21:06as a tradesperson would.
21:09It's an artist
21:10expressing himself.
21:14There's a magical aura,
21:16I think,
21:17which is starting to build up
21:18around the artist.
21:19so we have Leonardo.
21:21He will make
21:22extraordinary things for us.
21:26Word reaches Florence
21:28of Leonardo's success
21:29in Milan.
21:31For the young Michelangelo,
21:33this sets the bar
21:34for what an artist
21:35can achieve.
21:37Leonardo da Vinci.
21:41A man to admire, yes.
21:45When I first saw his work,
21:47I was astonished.
21:50He could capture beauty
21:51and grace
21:52like no other.
21:57He had a mind
21:59for innovation.
22:03My path was very different
22:05to his.
22:07Not to remake the world,
22:10but to capture the essence
22:13of God's creation.
22:17But the young Michelangelo
22:19is yet to make anything
22:20for a paying patron.
22:27For now,
22:29he's the favourite apprentice
22:30in Lorenzo's household
22:32and mixing with some
22:34of the greatest thinkers
22:35of the day.
22:36This is another thing
22:38Lorenzo de' Medici
22:39is collecting.
22:40He's collecting intellectuals.
22:43These are the most brilliant
22:45people of their time.
22:46They knew they were doing
22:47something new and exciting
22:48and they were liberating
22:49their minds
22:50and liberating their ideas.
22:52I would say that
22:54two years in the Medici household
22:56is something like
22:56an entire Oxford education.
22:59I grew up
23:02in Lorenzo's household.
23:05I joined his table
23:06at which,
23:08as befits such a man,
23:09personages of the highest
23:11nobility were seated
23:12every day.
23:15Around the table
23:16is Poliziano.
23:18Agnolo Poliziano
23:19is the preeminent scholar
23:21of his day.
23:22So therefore,
23:22you're getting in
23:23with the big boys,
23:24as it were.
23:26It's more than likely
23:28that Poliziano was,
23:29in fact,
23:29homosexual.
23:33Living in the Medici household
23:34is being surrounded
23:35by these people
23:36just probably allowing
23:37Michelangelo
23:38the freedom
23:38and the liberation
23:39to explore his own sexuality,
23:41which is probably confused
23:42at this moment.
23:43But nonetheless,
23:45he has a proclivity
23:46to an interest
23:47in homosexual relations.
23:50Michelangelo is gay.
23:51I'll just say it.
23:54Historical records
23:55tell us
23:56that same-sex relationships
23:58and homosexuality
24:00was very widespread
24:01in Florence at the time.
24:04If you really venerate
24:06Greek culture
24:07and Roman culture
24:08and you've noticed
24:09that they also think
24:11that men and boys
24:12are incredibly beautiful,
24:13it does give you
24:14that legitimacy,
24:16that it's more highbrow
24:18than people might like
24:19to think it is
24:19because the ancient Greeks
24:21were doing it.
24:21but Michelangelo
24:25is deeply conflicted
24:27because he was deeply devout
24:29as most people were.
24:32Sodomy was one
24:33of the great sins
24:34of the church.
24:35People were actually
24:36executed for this.
24:38There was a whole office
24:39called Officers of the Night
24:40who would condemn
24:42these people.
24:43The Office for the Night
24:44gets some really big names
24:46to their tally.
24:47Leonardo da Vinci
24:48is accused.
24:49No charges are brought.
24:51Up to half
24:53of all Florentine men
24:54are being accused
24:55of homosexuality
24:57throughout the 15th century.
25:00So I imagine
25:01Michelangelo
25:02not really understanding
25:04what on earth
25:04was going on there,
25:05understanding the beauty
25:06and appreciating it,
25:08but also being really scared
25:09for his soul.
25:10While in the
25:24Medici household,
25:25Michelangelo
25:26is given his first chance
25:27to carve the male body
25:29in stone.
25:37The scholar
25:38Poliziano
25:38is the one
25:39that suggests
25:40this theme
25:41of the battle
25:42of the centaurs
25:43to Michelangelo
25:44and this is one
25:45of Michelangelo's
25:45earliest works.
25:48I've never tried
25:49anything like it before.
25:51It was the greatest
25:51thrill of my young life.
26:08What Michelangelo
26:10is doing
26:11is thinking
26:11about the male form.
26:14What we see
26:14is bodies writhing
26:16and enmeshed together.
26:18They're all entangled
26:19in a bit of a mess.
26:20It's hard to unpick
26:21which one's legs
26:22belong to which one's arms.
26:28Michelangelo
26:28is fascinated
26:29by the structure
26:31of men's bodies
26:32and how to reproduce
26:34them in a classical way.
26:36For me
26:40the battle
26:40of the centaurs
26:41and those rippling
26:43muscles under the skin
26:44but also
26:45in the interlocking
26:46of bodies
26:47one to the other
26:48is this energetic flow
26:50and he manages
26:52to make the body
26:53into a vehicle
26:54of God's work.
26:58God made man
26:59in his image.
27:01Not woman.
27:03Woman was made
27:03from a bit of man
27:05but man
27:06was made
27:07in God's image.
27:09God must have
27:10a body
27:10like a man
27:11therefore
27:12the male body
27:13is also
27:14holy
27:15and spiritual
27:15and beautiful
27:16and deserving
27:17of worship.
27:22Renaissance artists
27:24return to it
27:24again and again
27:25and again
27:26this beautifully
27:28sculptured
27:29buffed body
27:31all beautifully
27:32in proportion
27:32the face
27:33in proportion
27:34because to be
27:37perfect
27:37brings you
27:39closer to God.
27:43I don't say
27:44this to boast
27:45I'm a modest man
27:46but I did
27:48do it well.
27:51This was
27:52my destiny.
27:53In Milan
28:00Leonardo's patron
28:01Ludovico Sforza
28:03is tightening
28:04his grip
28:04on power.
28:09He has
28:10the rightful
28:11heir
28:11his own nephew
28:13poisoned
28:13and takes
28:16permanent
28:17control.
28:19He has
28:19to justify
28:20his power
28:21or he has
28:21to solidify
28:22his power.
28:24He's gotten
28:24there by all
28:25sorts of
28:25nefarious means.
28:27It's not
28:28some great
28:28hereditary
28:29dukedom.
28:32Sforza knows
28:33an effective
28:34ruler needs
28:35not just
28:35brute force
28:36but propaganda.
28:39He wants
28:40art that shows
28:41Milan and the
28:42rest of the world
28:43he's a ruler
28:44to be reckoned
28:45with.
28:45so he commissions
28:47his in-house
28:48artist Leonardo
28:49to make him
28:50a magnificent
28:51public statue
28:52to glorify
28:53the Sforza
28:54name.
28:56For the Sforza
28:58it's about
28:58a big
28:59commanding display
29:00to have
29:01an iconic image
29:02of an imperial
29:03figure on a
29:05big rearing
29:06horse.
29:06That's very
29:07Grieco-Roman
29:08it's very
29:09in your face
29:09it says
29:10I'm going to
29:11trample all over
29:12you.
29:12Sforza wanted
29:13more than
29:14flattery.
29:16He wanted
29:17art to rival
29:18a Roman
29:18emperor.
29:21What a piece
29:22of work
29:23it could have
29:23been.
29:23The colossus.
29:26He wants
29:26it to be
29:27eight meters
29:28tall
29:28and it's
29:2970 tons
29:30of bronze.
29:32It's a
29:32monster.
29:38Leonardo
29:39does
29:40incredible
29:40drawings
29:41that show
29:42the legs
29:42the faces
29:44of each
29:44horse.
29:44He even
29:45dissects
29:47some horses
29:47so he can
29:48see the
29:49muscles
29:49underneath
29:50the skin.
29:52How you
29:53cast that
29:54in bronze
29:55is an
29:55unbelievably
29:56difficult
29:57challenge.
29:58Nobody's
29:58done it
29:58before.
29:59You start
30:00by making
30:01a clay
30:01model.
30:02This is
30:02what Leonardo
30:03creates.
30:04People talk
30:04about it
30:05and say
30:05it's the
30:06most amazing
30:06thing that
30:07they've ever
30:07seen.
30:08And it's
30:08exciting
30:09for the
30:09Sforza
30:09because
30:10Ludovico
30:11can think
30:11I'm going
30:11to get
30:11something
30:12that nobody
30:12else has
30:12got.
30:14But politics
30:16intervenes.
30:17For years
30:18France has
30:19been eyeing
30:19Italy's wealth
30:20and tensions
30:21are escalating.
30:23Milan sits
30:24at the gateway
30:25to Italy
30:25and Sforza
30:26sees an
30:27opportunity.
30:29He makes
30:29a power play.
30:31Sforza
30:32thinks he
30:33can do a
30:33deal with
30:34the French
30:34which would
30:35make the
30:36Milanese
30:36basically power
30:37brokers in
30:38Italy but
30:39it's an
30:39incredibly
30:39dangerous
30:40game.
30:41He invites
30:42the French
30:43to effectively
30:44invade and
30:45it wreaks
30:46havoc.
30:47The French
30:48basically just
30:49push their
30:50way right
30:50through
30:51central
30:51Italy and
30:53the Sforza
30:54just can't
30:55control it.
30:58Ludovico
30:58needs the
30:59bronze that
31:01he's allocated
31:02for the
31:02statue for
31:03munitions.
31:04so Leonardo
31:06has it
31:06literally
31:07snatched out
31:07of his
31:08hand.
31:10Leonardo's
31:10just then
31:11left with
31:11the clay
31:12cast.
31:13And
31:13eventually
31:14when the
31:14French get
31:14to town
31:15they use
31:16it for
31:16target
31:16practice
31:17with their
31:17arrows so
31:18it gets
31:18destroyed.
31:22Poor
31:22Leonardo.
31:28Must have
31:29crushed him
31:30to realize
31:30his horse
31:31would never
31:32be cast
31:32in bronze.
31:34Still
31:34brought him
31:36even greater
31:36fame.
31:39I hoped
31:40one day
31:40it might be
31:41my name
31:41that everyone
31:42spoke of.
31:46But God
31:47showed me
31:48the way.
31:52To emulate
31:53Leonardo
31:54Michelangelo
31:55befriends
31:56the prior
31:56of a local
31:57church hospital
31:58in Florence
31:59and is
32:00initiated
32:01into an
32:01area of
32:02study
32:02still seen
32:03as taboo.
32:06The prior
32:07there was
32:07a good
32:08friend to
32:08me.
32:09He provided
32:10me with a
32:10room
32:11and with
32:13corpses
32:13for the
32:16study of
32:16anatomy.
32:17nothing could
32:30have given me
32:30greater pleasure.
32:31was...
32:32He is given
32:44free reign
32:45quietly
32:46to dissect.
32:48He writes
32:49about it
32:49later and
32:50says he's
32:51sort of
32:51physically
32:51sickened
32:52by it
32:53but he's
32:54also
32:54compelled
32:54by it.
32:55He's not
33:14the first
33:15to do
33:15this.
33:16Leonardo
33:16had done
33:16this years
33:17earlier.
33:18But
33:18Michelangelo
33:19takes this
33:19opportunity
33:20I suppose
33:21in many
33:21ways to
33:22try to
33:22prove he
33:23too could
33:24do
33:24dissections.
33:27Leonardo
33:27is truly
33:28interested in
33:29how the
33:29body works
33:30on the
33:30interior.
33:32Michelangelo
33:32is interested
33:33in understanding
33:34how muscles
33:35and bones
33:36react on the
33:37surface so he
33:39can reproduce
33:39it in a more
33:40beautiful way.
33:41What both
33:45artists are
33:46doing is
33:47trying to
33:48get closer
33:48to God.
33:51Anybody
33:51looks at
33:52Michelangelo
33:52and you
33:53can see
33:53the impact
33:54clearly of
33:55him slicing
33:56into a
33:56cadaver and
33:57working out
33:58literally how
33:59muscles work.
34:01And that I
34:02think must
34:02have been a
34:03very transformative
34:03moment for him.
34:04He's still very
34:05young and it
34:07clearly stays
34:07with him
34:08throughout the
34:08rest of this
34:09work.
34:09And he's a
34:10sculptor.
34:10You know
34:10he's that's
34:11what he's
34:11doing.
34:12You know
34:12he's turning
34:13to put it
34:14bluntly he's
34:14turning stone
34:15into flesh.
34:27But then my
34:28chance of
34:29making something
34:30of myself
34:30was suddenly
34:32diminished.
34:37Lorenzo the
34:38Magnificent
34:38departed this
34:39life.
34:45Michelangelo is
34:45bereft at the
34:47death of
34:47Lorenzo, his
34:48patron, his
34:49benefactor, his
34:50friend.
34:53At the end
34:53of the day he
34:54became part of
34:55the family.
34:56He was living
34:56with them and
34:57Lorenzo was the
34:59person that took
35:01care of him and
35:02discovered him and
35:03fostered his
35:04career.
35:04I returned first to
35:08my father's house.
35:11But I suffered such
35:13anguish over
35:14Lorenzo's death that
35:15for many days I
35:18I was unable to do
35:22anything at all.
35:23Lorenzo's son Piero
35:32succeeds him but he
35:34is a hopeless ruler
35:35and it becomes clear
35:37that beneath the
35:38glittering facade the
35:40city's coffers are
35:41empty.
35:41There's a sense in
35:44which Florence has
35:45had this amazing
35:46sort of flowering of
35:49art, of culture, of
35:50conspicuous consumption
35:51and suddenly it really
35:54comes to an end with
35:55Lorenzo's death.
35:57For decades the
35:59Medici had been
35:59lending to
36:01increasingly
36:02profligate European
36:03rulers and princes and
36:05emperors.
36:05well those people
36:07aren't going to
36:07repay you and
36:09that's what's
36:09happened.
36:10It's all become
36:11sort of completely
36:12out of control.
36:14What you're left
36:15with is a
36:16political vacuum
36:17and also a sort
36:19of moral vacuum.
36:23It was only a
36:24matter of time
36:24before the people
36:25turned against
36:26the Medici.
36:29And Piero
36:30had his father's
36:31name but
36:32none of his
36:34charisma, none of
36:35his virtue.
36:36He just was not
36:37capable of
36:38guiding Florence
36:41through the
36:41gathering storm.
36:49Into the vacuum
36:51steps a religious
36:52zealot,
36:54Girolamo
36:55Savonarola.
36:59He's come to
37:00Florence to take a
37:00stand against sin
37:02and excess
37:02and his sermons
37:04are hypnotizing
37:05large crowds.
37:10I've seen him
37:11preach.
37:13Whoa, he
37:15was a powerful,
37:18frightening speaker.
37:20After all these
37:21years, the memory
37:23of that vivid voice
37:24remains in my mind.
37:27He's a high-pitched voice.
37:32His accent from
37:33Ferrara annoys the
37:35people who listen to
37:35him and yet he
37:37manages to rise to
37:38the top and the
37:40reason is simple.
37:42The people understand
37:44what he's saying.
37:47Florence appears to be
37:48the wealthy city but
37:50the people don't see
37:51much of that wealth.
37:53People feel that they've
37:54been betrayed and
37:55Savonarola says that
37:56that is through the
37:58dishonesty of the
37:59bankers and through
38:00the corruption of the
38:01church.
38:02He's the classic
38:02populist.
38:04What he's actually
38:04doing is saying,
38:06there's something wrong
38:07with Florence.
38:08She is no longer a
38:09godlike city.
38:11Believe in me and I
38:12can get you out of
38:13this mess.
38:14It's an absolutely
38:15extraordinary shift
38:17from Lorenzo and all
38:18the art and all the
38:20luxury to this real
38:22ground zero religious
38:24zealotry of
38:25Savonarola.
38:26But it speaks to the
38:27people, many of whom
38:28of course have not had
38:30a renaissance.
38:31They have not been
38:32having a wonderful
38:32time.
38:33They've been dealing
38:33with failing harvests
38:35and perpetual warfare.
38:37So somebody who says,
38:38I can lead you to a
38:39new Jerusalem, you can
38:40see why people are
38:43seduced by it and go
38:44with it.
38:44Savonarola seizes a
38:48chance to turn
38:49popularity into power.
38:52Thanks to Ludovico's
38:53forza in Milan, the
38:55French army has been
38:56marching south through
38:57Italy and are at the
38:58gates of Florence.
39:01Savonarola rides out
39:03to meet them.
39:04He persuades the pious
39:05French king to spare
39:07the city and promises
39:08to cleanse it of its
39:10sins.
39:11He expels the
39:13remaining Medici,
39:14and takes control.
39:17The city belonged to
39:19Savonarola.
39:21Perhaps Florence has
39:22been punished for all
39:24of her sins.
39:27What Lorenzo had built
39:28was no more.
39:32It's not a good time for
39:34artists anymore.
39:35Savonarola is really a
39:37great example of
39:38canceled culture.
39:39He just decides that all
39:42the art done beforehand
39:43represents the
39:44lasciviousness of the
39:47previous Florence, the
39:48Florence before him.
39:50The only type of art that
39:51he would permit would be
39:53religious art.
39:56Michelangelo, until that
39:57moment, has been a favorite
39:58of the Medici.
40:00You know, his career is
40:02looking really good.
40:03He's doing dissections on
40:05human bodies.
40:05This is exactly the kind of
40:08thing that Savonarola thinks
40:09is the devil's work.
40:10This is the moment in time
40:12when Michelangelo realizes
40:13that this is not the city
40:15for him.
40:16I had no choice if I was to
40:18pursue my destiny.
40:19I had to leave Florence.
40:21I had to imagine making my
40:23way elsewhere, just as
40:28Leonardo had done.
40:33Desperate for work and
40:34money, Michelangelo agrees
40:36to take part in a
40:37deception.
40:39He carves a statue that
40:41will be passed off as an
40:42antiquity.
40:44You'll have to trust me.
40:46It was entirely convincing,
40:48of course.
40:48The statue is bought by
40:51Cardinal Riario in Rome.
40:54He realizes it's a fake,
40:56but is so impressed, he
40:58tracks the artist down.
40:59He promised me that if I
41:02went with him to Rome, he
41:03would offer me the widest
41:04possible field in which to
41:06demonstrate my abilities.
41:10Thus, I left Florence and
41:14made my way for the first
41:17time in my life to Rome.
41:27Rome has a new Pope.
41:30Alexander VI, from the
41:32ruthless and ambitious
41:33family of the Borgias, has a
41:35reputation for extravagance
41:37and debauchery.
41:37Rome is as corrupt as
41:41Florence may have been in
41:43Savonarola's mind.
41:45Alexander VI had a notoriously
41:47wild reputation.
41:49An interest in classical
41:51antiquity, too, but as an
41:52excuse to indulge in the
41:55excesses of classical
41:56antiquity, parties and
41:58orgies.
41:59Without Lorenzo to guide him,
42:03Michelangelo must navigate the
42:05treacherous world of patronage.
42:08He's taken on by the
42:09cardinal, who is close to the
42:11Pope, to make a marble
42:13sculpture for the grounds of
42:14his new palace.
42:16It's Michelangelo's first full-
42:18scale commission.
42:20He's been asked to imitate the
42:23classical past, but to innovate
42:25as well and do something new.
42:27This is an immense opportunity
42:29for Michelangelo, and he just
42:30suddenly comes up with one of
42:32the masterpieces of the world
42:33and carves a Bacchus.
42:43Bacchus is the god of wine, and
42:46what Michelangelo does is produce
42:48this, it's a sort of woozyly
42:50erotic image.
42:51The Bacchus, he's stumbling,
42:55he's allowed to spill the cup of
42:58wine.
42:59His eyes are sort of almost
43:01crossed, and he has in his hair
43:03grape leaves.
43:06It's very sexy, but it's not
43:09classically muscly sexy.
43:11The Bacchus figures go a little
43:12bit of a tummy.
43:14It's all so homoerotic.
43:18The Bacchus is precisely the
43:20proper figure for Michelangelo
43:22to car for this worldly cardinal
43:23who's putting on these kinds of
43:25parties in Rome, but it comes at
43:28the wrong moment.
43:33Alexander VI's son is found
43:35murdered.
43:37His body is pulled from the river
43:39Tiber, and the Pope is stricken
43:42with grief.
43:44Alexander thinks the death of his
43:46favourite son is a punishment for
43:48his sins, and now he has to not only
43:51reform his own life, but that of the
43:53whole papal court.
43:55Cardinals shouldn't have lavish
43:56parties.
43:58Cardinals shouldn't keep bawdy
43:59company.
44:00This is very awkward for Cardinal
44:01Riario.
44:04By the time that Michelangelo finishes
44:07the Bacchus, it's suddenly not
44:09acceptable for Cardinal Riario to place
44:12this in the centre of his beautiful
44:13palace.
44:14Michelangelo's captured that decadent
44:18world of Rome, of, you know, parties,
44:22of drunkenness.
44:23He's almost rent the veil of what's
44:25happening.
44:27But he goes too far, and the Cardinal
44:29rejects it, says he doesn't want it, and
44:31this is a disaster.
44:33It's an absolute disaster for
44:34Michelangelo.
44:35But the Cardinal had little
44:36understanding or enjoyment of sculpture
44:39was abundantly clear.
44:41Michelangelo's furious, and of course he's
44:43going to tell the story that the Cardinal
44:46had no taste and he didn't understand
44:48Michelangelo.
44:50With the Bacchus, Michelangelo must learn
44:52quite an important lesson.
44:54Rome is a place of great opportunity, but
44:56it's an environment that's fickle.
44:58You've not only got the taste of the day,
45:00what people are interested in, but you've
45:02also got the mood of the papal court.
45:07The commission that might have launched
45:08Michelangelo's career now threatens to
45:11poison it.
45:14The Cardinal abandons him, and Michelangelo
45:15is out of work once again.
45:19Rome is much more cutthroat even than
45:22Florence in a way, so he's got to tread
45:25really carefully from now on.
45:27He does not have autonomy over how he
45:29makes his work.
45:31If he wants to get more work, he has to
45:33please the patron.
45:34My father demanded I return to Florence.
45:39There was nothing left for me there.
45:42I had news from Milan.
45:46Leonardo had gone from strength to strength.
45:49He'd won a commission from the Sforza
45:51greater than ever before.
45:55Ludovico Sforza was double-crossed by the
45:58French in his last bid for power.
46:00Now he switches sides.
46:04He forges an alliance with other city-states
46:07to drive the French out of Italy.
46:09But his strategic blunder has cost him.
46:13He needs to repair his reputation.
46:15He wants a big statement about his authority
46:19and a sense of almost his divine authority
46:22as ruler of Milan.
46:23An obvious way of doing this is a large,
46:27almost like a sort of billboard poster
46:29for a mausoleum for his family.
46:32In this case of The Last Supper,
46:33an iconic religious image.
46:35Leonardo uses every one of his talents.
46:55The mathematics of perspective,
46:58the brilliance of stagecraft,
47:00how people's faces reflect their emotions,
47:03and how you can put a narrative into a painting.
47:08As Jesus says,
47:09one of you shall betray me.
47:11And you see it ripple outward.
47:15You see each one of the people
47:17performing this narrative scene.
47:23The Last Supper measures over four meters high
47:26and almost nine meters wide.
47:28This is an example of Leonardo's
47:32incredible control of geometry,
47:35incredible control of the composition.
47:37The head of Christ is the point
47:40where all the perspective aligns converge.
47:43And the composition is
47:44an interlocking of pyramids and triangles.
47:48There is this geometric repetition
47:51that makes the whole composition
47:53balanced and beautiful.
47:55As Leonardo's doing the painting,
47:58it's clear it's going to be sensational.
48:01And people start coming
48:03to just stand there
48:05and watch him paint.
48:07And when it's finished,
48:09it's obviously gorgeous.
48:12And Leonardo moves
48:14to a new level of fame.
48:15After all these years away from Florence,
48:24Leonardo had found his own way.
48:27His fame spread across all of Italy.
48:34My name was barely even a whisper.
48:38I was nothing.
48:39I was nothing.
48:41Then, Michelangelo gets a second chance
48:49to make his name.
48:51The French have withdrawn from Italy,
48:53but their ambassador stays in Rome.
48:56And he's spotted Michelangelo's potential.
49:03Even though the Bacchus is rejected
49:05by the cardinal
49:06and put into a garden
49:07and sort of becomes a public figure in a way,
49:10so there's a French cardinal
49:12who recognized
49:13that this is a carver of talent.
49:15And he commissions Michelangelo
49:16to carve a pietà .
49:21There have been previous pietà 's in the past,
49:24so the subject matter is not a new one.
49:27Pietà means pity or sorrow.
49:29It's an image of the dead Christ
49:32in the lap of the Virgin.
49:34I think this piece is make or break
49:36for Michelangelo
49:37because you can't fail twice.
49:42Written into my contract
49:43with the French ambassador
49:45were these very words.
49:49My pietà would be
49:51the most beautiful work
49:53of marble in Rome,
49:55one that no living artist
49:57could better.
49:58Michelangelo selects the finest marble
50:09from a quarry in Tuscany
50:10for his pietà .
50:12On his way back to Rome,
50:14he stops in his hometown of Florence
50:16and is appalled by what he sees.
50:20His beloved Florence
50:21has gone from being
50:22the cradle of the Renaissance
50:24to being a really austere
50:27and forbidding place.
50:29Savonarola is becoming
50:30increasingly Puritan
50:31and strident.
50:36Homosexuality is condemned
50:38and punishable
50:39by imprisonment,
50:41torture
50:41and even death.
50:43Savonarola
50:48employed a gang of thugs.
50:51They go around Florence
50:52arresting people.
50:55Anyone committing sodomy
50:56is in danger,
50:57but also anybody
50:58who is immodestly dressed,
51:00anybody who is blaspheming.
51:02There's a couple of examples
51:03of them having their tongues
51:04cut out for that.
51:07It must be absolutely terrifying
51:09to be in Florence
51:10at this time.
51:13Savonarola believes
51:19that many of the works
51:20of art that were produced
51:22in this period
51:22were against God
51:24and should, in fact,
51:25be destroyed.
51:27And, of course,
51:27this is what leads
51:28to what we now know
51:29as the bonfire
51:30of the vanities.
51:33Savonarola gets together
51:34a little army
51:35of about 6,000 boys
51:37who run from house to house
51:39asking the people
51:40to give them furniture,
51:41paintings,
51:42works of art,
51:43anything which would
51:45detract them
51:45from the Christian life.
51:49He invites the people
51:50to bring them
51:51to the public square
51:52where they can be burned.
51:54from being the most cultured
52:03in the forefront
52:05of the Italian Renaissance,
52:07suddenly Florence
52:08is like a fundamentalist theocracy
52:11and it is a really terrifying
52:13period of time.
52:14I think Savonarola produces
52:19a great crisis
52:20for Michelangelo
52:21because he's devout.
52:22His religious beliefs
52:23are very sincere.
52:26But Savonarola
52:27stood for resonated with me.
52:30I, too,
52:31sought an honest relationship
52:33with God
52:34to be true to him
52:36in all I did
52:37and to honour
52:38the talent
52:39he had given me.
52:44He does indeed wonder,
52:47has God, in fact,
52:48been erased from the picture
52:50in terms of
52:51the reason why
52:53he's creating
52:53the art in the first place?
52:55What I'd seen in Florence
53:00strengthened my resolve.
53:03My Pieta
53:04must be true
53:05to the emotion
53:06of a mother
53:10cradling
53:12her dying son.
53:17I knew
53:18that God
53:19had intended
53:20for me
53:20to do this work.
53:22I was emboldened
53:24and clear-sighted
53:26and clear-sighted
53:26I would make something
53:27of such great
53:29and rare beauty
53:30that no one
53:32who saw it
53:32would not be moved
53:35to pity.
53:54Why is it
54:00that the Pieta
54:01is such
54:02a powerful
54:03vehicle for him?
54:05Well, I think
54:05it's to do
54:07with the fundamental
54:08challenge of sculpture.
54:11How do you
54:12make inert matter
54:14live?
54:18Michelangelo
54:19produces,
54:21for me,
54:21one of the most
54:22extraordinary
54:23and moving pieces
54:24of art
54:25in the entire
54:27Renaissance.
54:29I remember
54:30first going to Rome
54:32and seeing it myself
54:33and I could not
54:35believe it.
54:35The power of that image
54:36could be created
54:37through marble.
54:39I was completely
54:40stunned by it.
54:43There's not a chisel
54:44mark to be seen.
54:46it's absolutely
54:49beautiful.
54:52It's like
54:53Quest isn't even
54:54dead
54:55because
54:56his veins
54:57are still
54:58up.
55:02It looks like
55:04he's asleep.
55:07Michelangelo
55:08is the most
55:09unbelievable
55:10technician in the world
55:11and we look
55:12at her hand
55:14projecting
55:15into the air.
55:19This is the most
55:20difficult thing
55:21in the world
55:21to carve.
55:23Every single
55:23finger is at
55:24a different
55:25angle,
55:27separated.
55:28And that hand
55:29offers us
55:30the body
55:31of her son.
55:37And she's
55:38so serene.
55:39the grief
55:41that I
55:42can
55:42associate
55:43with
55:44losing
55:45your son
55:46isn't on
55:47her face
55:48at all.
55:52Maybe
55:53it's more
55:54about that
55:54quiet moment
55:56of being
55:57with her
55:57son.
55:59It's not
56:00Christ,
56:01it's not
56:01anybody else,
56:02it's her
56:02son.
56:06In that
56:07quiet moment
56:08is she
56:09somehow
56:10saying
56:11to God,
56:12this is
56:13my
56:13everything
56:14and I'm
56:16giving him
56:17to you.
56:24So
56:25touching.
56:27It's impossible
56:28not to be
56:28touched
56:29by the
56:29work.
56:30I merely
56:51liberated my
56:52pietar from
56:52that block
56:53of stone.
56:54through this
56:58work I
56:58acquired
56:59great fame
57:01and reputation
57:01so much
57:03that already
57:04in the opinion
57:04of the
57:06world
57:07I had
57:09not only
57:09surpassed
57:10every man
57:10of my
57:11time
57:11and of
57:12the time
57:12before
57:13but
57:13I had
57:15even
57:15rivaled
57:16the
57:16ancients.
57:17this
57:24is
57:24the
57:25actual
57:25moment
57:26that
57:26Michelangelo
57:27makes it.
57:28This is
57:28the arrival
57:28on the
57:29big stage
57:30the moment
57:31when he
57:31realises
57:32just how
57:33powerful
57:34art can
57:35be.
57:40The fact
57:41that he
57:42carves
57:43his name
57:43into this
57:44piece
57:45I think
57:46says
57:46something
57:47about
57:47his
57:48belief
57:48in how
57:49powerful
57:49it is
57:49I think
57:50he knows
57:50he's done
57:50something
57:51truly
57:52exceptional
57:52even
57:52for him
57:53he's
57:55saying
57:55this is
57:56me
57:56nobody
57:58else
57:58can
57:58do
57:58this
57:58he's
58:00saying
58:00I am
58:01the
58:01artist
58:02I've
58:02arrived
58:03the artist
58:04known as
58:05Michelangelo
58:05is here
58:06next time
58:17Michelangelo's
58:18rivalry with
58:19Leonardo
58:20boils over
58:21a young
58:22upstart
58:23threatens to
58:24eclipse him
58:24and he
58:26takes on
58:26a monumental
58:27challenge
58:28that could
58:29make
58:29or break
58:30him
58:31no one
58:32had the
58:32courage
58:32to lay
58:34a hand
58:34to it
58:35I
58:36had the
58:36courage
58:37and I
58:39wanted
58:39it
59:01he
59:02fired
59:03he
59:06fired
59:08he
59:09he
59:12he
59:13he
59:13has
59:13he
59:14he
59:14he
59:14the
59:15he
59:16he
59:18he