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The Figura Sforzata : modelling, power and the Mannerist body
Author(s) -
Cole Michael
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
art history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8365
pISSN - 0141-6790
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8365.00280
Subject(s) - vision , art , poetry , painting , power (physics) , beauty , visual arts , aesthetics , bent molecular geometry , art history , literature , sociology , engineering , structural engineering , quantum mechanics , anthropology , physics
In the wake of Michelangelo, a number of Italian artists – and notably those who composed their works using wax models – came to identify the act of design with that of bending bodies. This article looks at how this manner of thinking led sculptors, painters, and writers to articulate new visions and fantasies about their artistic ‘mastery’. Focusing on the language contemporaries used when evaluating the bent figure, and considering associated ideas about memory, life study and poetic invention, the article explores the ways in which sculptural process itself became a vehicle through which artists could promote their power.