The Agony and the Ecstasy

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The Dome of St. Peter's, a triumph

of engineering, marvel of design.

Created during the italian Renaissance

by a man named Michelangelo.

And even today,

in this time of scientific miracles...

a source of wonder.

A focus of admiration

for those who, this past year...

gathered in Rome

from all over the world...

to commemorate the four-hundredth

anniversary of its designer's death.

And in the Vatican close by,

the Sistine Chapel:

stronghold of the most celebrated

frescoes in the history of painting.

The work of an artist who

did not want to paint.

Michelangelo was born in 1475...

in the Tuscan village of Caprese,

where his father was the Mayor.

There had been soldiers in the

Buonarroti family too...

but never an artist.

Michelangelo burst from his heritage

like an unexpected flame.

Here at Settignano, he studied the

rudiments of sculpture technique.

First the ordinary stone...

then the marble, the "stone of light",

as the Greeks called it...

learning to discover its defects,

to probe its potentialities.

This was the groundwork

for the student.

And his goal:
Florence.

Dominated, in the year 1469,

by one man who was a prince...

a poet, a patron of the arts:

Lorenzo, the Magnificent.

New buildings rose,

new statues appeared.

And here, in this new Athens...

the boy Michelangelo

saw how the marble...

that stone that sprang from

the heart of his land...

could reach its potentialities...

could acquire harmony

of volume and form...

in churches...

palaces...

bridges, streets.

Here, too, he learned to draw,

to unleash his talent in painting.

Muscular masses, figures,

standing out from the folios...

with all the substance of statues.

No wonder he felt his destiny:

born to sculpt, not to paint.

His first work, a bas-relief,

the "Madonna of the Stairs".

He was only fifteen.

Yet under his hands,

marble lost its hardness...

became soft as wax,

translucent as alabaster.

Mary, the mother of Christ,

the "Giver of Life...

and the Custodian of Death".

At seventeen, he created

the "Battle of The Centaurs".

Limbs, muscles...

carved with a force and energy

stirring as a rebellion.

A joyous satyr,

in reality the devil...

in the act of tempting an

intoxicated Adam...

otherwise known

as the "Bacchus".

A work commissioned

by a banker of Rome...

for by now the fame of

Michelangelo had spread...

beyond the walls of Florence.

The "Apollus".

For the Dominicans of Santo Spiritu,

"The Crucifix"...

a treasure of art only

recently discovered.

The renowned "Pitti Madonna".

And the significant "St. Matthew".

Significant for that

"unfinished appearance...

which recurs in other

of the master's creations.

As here, he now and again

would stop short...

lest further refinements

would compromise...

the "life", the real essence

of the work.

The Medici Tombs...

even the architecture

designed by Michelangelo.

A setting for his

Tomb of Lorenzo...

with its figures of Dusk...

and Dawn.

The Tomb of Giuliano and

its companion works:

Night and Day.

Night in her gloom...

with the owl...

and the mask, symbols of the

dreams and terrors of darkness.

Day, that "unfinished mark again,

roughly hewn...

like first vague light of dawn.

The genius of "Victory",

said to be tribute to Lorenzo...

Michelangelo's second father...

who had banished the

shadows of barbarism.

The "Medici Madonna".

The "Pieta" of the Duomo,

in Florence.

The "Pieta" of Palestrina.

But a work more widely

known than these...

came from one gigantic

block of marble...

earlier rejected by other artists

who had palled before it.

In eighteen months,

Michelangelo had transformed it to...

"The Giant of Florence":

"David".

No longer the meek shepherd,

David is shown...

at the moment of

his decision to fight.

And there is that other colossus...

originally intended

for the funeral monument...

of Pope Julius, the second...

described by a biographer as

"a better warrior than a Pope".

The "Moses".

So lifelike, says the legend...

that Michelangelo struck

its knee with a hammer...

crying:
"And now, speak!"

Here, that glory of the

sculptor's art...

the famed "Pieta" of St. Peters...

now on exhibition at

the New York World's Fair.

Created by Michelangelo

when he was 23.

Finished, polished,

no detail untouched.

In striking contrast

to this "Pieta"...

known as the Rondanini and

considered the artist's testament.

At long intervals, for the last

eleven years of his life...

and up to the day of his death,

he worked on it.

Here Michelangelo is no longer

searching for beauty...

but the most profound sign

of suffering in man.

From the perfection of

the Piet of St. Peter's...

to this final achievement

with its unfinished stamp...

the arc of his life is spanned:

the agony of creation has

finally forced him...

to define the indefinable.

On the 18th of February, 1564...

not far from this square,

the Campidoglio...

which he had designed...

Michelangelo died at the age of 89.

Acclaimed by the world for

his titanic figures in marble...

yet still best known for his

frescoes on the ceiling...

of a chapel in the Vatican,

the Sistine Chapel...

the masterpiece of a sculpture...

who did not want to paint.

The Pope!

Your Holiness, a great victory.

A great day for Rome.

For the church.

In the name of the Holy Church,

I thank you.

May God Almighty bless you.

The Father, the Son...

and the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Return to Rome!

Bramante.

Let's go and see.

Still at work? The Pope has

already entered the city.

- I've got work to do.

- Surely nothing so important...

...as to do your pontiff honor.

- Do him honor?

His Holiness's orders were clear:

all Rome to take a holiday...

and come to St. Peter's to

celebrate his new triumph.

Yes, and what is all Rome doing?

Eating, drinking,

working, making love?

Rome is not interested

in petty conquerors.

Besides, I do his Holiness honor.

This tomb will make

him famous forever.

Then I fear he'll achieve

no fame in this century.

Not at your rate of work.

Do you know a sculptor that can

cut marble faster than I can?

How many sculptures do

you plan for this tomb?

Forty.

You know that.

And it took you how long to

carve the David in Florence?

- Four years.

- Four times forty is...?

I know, Bramante, I know,

a hundred and sixty.

That's why I can't

afford holidays.

Wait now!

Look. Moses.

Moses?

Moses.

Here in the marble.

Moses down from Sinai.

God's anger in his eyes.

- In the mind of Michelangelo.

- No! Here! Alive!

Sleeping inside the stone.

God sets them in there.

The sculptor only cuts them loose.

- Slow down!

- And, uh, the architect?

I like your plan for St. Peter's.

I told you that.

- Thank you.

- Your new cathedral...

will make a fine

setting for the tomb.

Imagine it, Bramante. Right there,

in the center of the nave...

...directly under the dome.

- The first church in Christendom.

The most important building

since the Acropolis.

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