Another model
was of a rounder and more bacchanalian character, not unlike the Dancing
Fawn in the Uffizi; but he was not in such good training. He was decidedly
fat, his face was mobile, and very easily took jovial expressions, his
cheeks dimpled, his eyes round and large, the pupils very dark and the
whites very white; his hair went into short, soft, frizzy curls; his
shoulders were small and round, the arms feeble, the thighs short, round,
and formless; his back was well developed, the folds of the skin in the
torso, when he bent, were very large and fat in line. It was probably for
this that Michael Angelo chose him. He is well seen in three of the
figures surrounding the third panel from the High Altar representing The
Spirit of God upon the Face of the Waters, and the two figures nearest to
the Adam and Eve in the scene of the Expulsion. The other model was of
more ordinary but of still very fine proportion. His head was rather
large, and his mouth petulant in expression, the upper eyelids very thick;
his hair is broken into large, hard curls. He is seen in the figures
surrounding the Sin of Ham, and was probably the first employed for this
work. These Athletes are the very epitome of the work of Michael Angelo.
If a man does not love them he cannot care for the work of Michael Angelo.
They express his highest idea of beauty--man created in the image of God,
as he testifies in this vault, and in the sonnet ending:--
Ne Dio, suo grazia, mi si mostra altrove,
Piu che'n alcun leggiadro e mortal velo;
E quel sol amo, perche'n quel si specchia.
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