Michelangelo’s Bound Slave, now in the Louvre, was carved
between 1513 and 1516 to embellish the tomb of Pope Julius II, which was to
feature some 20 such struggling figures.
Characteristically, Michelangelo uses the
body of the Slave to
express a psychological state, so that the figure is not simply symbolic of an
idea or an emotion, but is a total expression of an intense feeling.
The Bound
Slave strives to free himself from the ties that
hold him physically captive, but his fight is also a mental one, for he also
seems to struggle to be free of the stone from which his is made.
In conceiving the slave, Michelangelo was
inspired by ancient sculptures and especially the Laocoon. The Bound Slave is a figura serpentinata, twisting and turning in ways
quite similar to the central figure of the Laocoon.
