Existing comment:
The Dream
Michelangelo's enigmatic drawing depicts a young man being roused by a trumpeting angel and surrounded by symbols of gluttony, sloth, lust, and other vices. The beautiful youth may personify the human mind or soul being awakened to a higher spiritual existence. The work may have been made for his friend Tommaso de' Cavalieri, who certainly owned it soon after it was made. Like other drawings Michelangelo made for him, The Dream was copied and published in print, allowing the private work to function as a model for maiolica painters. As the inscription on the back of the plate reveals, this faithful translation into maiolica erroneously interprets the obscure subject as the more familiar biblical story of the dream of Daniel. Separated from their initial context, Michelangelo's compositions could be reinterpreted at will by craftsmen who had never set eyes on the original drawings. |