2-913-743 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Monument of Lorenzo de Medici, by Michael Angelo, in the Italian Court, at the Crystal Palace, 1854. Renaissance sculpture in south London. A replica of '...the celebrated Monument of Lorenzo de Medici, by Michael Angelo, from the famous Capella dei Medici, attached to the Church of San Lorenzo, at Florence...the statue of Lorenzo himself has received from the Italians - ever quick at comprehending the artist's meaning - the name of "II Pensiero," Thought...The reclining statues on the pediment are called Twilight and Dawn...the Aurora or Dawn is represented by a female figure of great power...The figures...are unfinished; "but," says Forsyth, "so sacred is the terror of Michael's genius, that these statues remain untouched and inviolate, in the midst of restorers who are daily trifling with the sculpture of antiquity"'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.