Michelangelo

Meet the Author

• Sampooran Singh Kalra (Gulzar) is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, and film director.
• Born: 18th August, 1934
• Place of Birth: Dina, Punjab, British India( Present day Punjab, Pakistan)
• Major Books: Raat Pashmine Ki, Triveni, Mirza Ghalib - A Biographical Scenario
• Best known for: He is known for his exceptional script writing for over fifty films, directed several award-winning films himself, and is considered one of the greatest Urdu poets of this generation.

Summary & Analysis

Michelangelo vents out to Pope Julius

The story “Michelangelo” begins with Michelangelo painting the ceiling of the Last Supper at the Sistine Chapel. Angelo was given the task of painting frescos of important events from the Bible on the walls and ceilings of the Sistine Chapel by Pope Julius. The painting was almost nearing completion except for the Last Judgment part which remained unfinished. Michelangelo has been away from Florence for almost five years. He was starting to grow weary of Rome and struggled to find a suitable face (model) to paint. Upon his return, he realizes that he’s found all the faces similar lacking distinctiveness or character. He vents out his frustration to Pope Julius.

Michelangelo’s Question to Pope Julius

When Pope Julius questions Michelangelo about what his face looks like, Angelo sarcastically replies that it resembles a burning candle. He implies that he was just a burning candle among the thousands that were burning in the cathedral whenever in trouble. Upon hearing this, Pope smiles after a momentary pause accustomed to Michel’s sharp comments. He is surprised that in this vast creation of god, where no face resembles another, struggles to find a distinctive face for his painting. Before he could complete speaking, Michelangelo walked away in silence.

It took a minute for Pope Julius to understand the barbed words. ‘I think I know what you mean ... ,’ he said finally, with a smile. ‘I’m just one more candle that burns at the altar alongside those thousand others, right?’ Michelangelo was silent.

Michelangelo’s Frustration and Past

Michelangelo spends grueling five years in Rome painting scenes from the Old and New Testaments. As he was nearing completion, Pope Julius chose to be calm to avoid straining their relationship. He was well aware of Angelo’s temperamental nature. Angelo was trying to search for a model of a face that resembled the character Judas. While he was painting on the Dome and walls of a Chapel, Pope Julius suddenly recalls an incident of him carving an image of Jesus in the woods for the church of the holy spirit. The model they chose was a young man who had unexpectedly died in the monastery. Consequently, they had to use the deceased as the model for the painting which delayed his funeral by twelve hours.

The reason to choose Michelangelo

Pope Julius also recalls the renowned Bramante, a master sculptor who designed the figures of the church according to his long-established rules. According to Medici, Bramante’s paintings always seemed to come from his own set of imagination. The pope admits that his works always seemed to belong to the same family in a consistent style. But, Michelangelo was different. This distinction was the key reason Pope Julius dismissed Bramante and reconciled with Angelo. Hence the Sistine Chapel was entrusted to Michelangelo for his masterpiece.

Bramante, the Pope thought now, yes, Bramante was a great painter too. He, unlike Michelangelo, proudly proclaimed that he conjured faces from his imagination. But even the Pope had to admit this—Bramante’s faces looked as though they had emerged from a common mould.

Michelangelo’s earlier times in Rome

In earlier times when Michaelangelo was in Rome he used to sit for hours under the dome of Saint Peter’s mumbling to himself. When Pope Julius inquired about his behaviour, he replied that he was attempting to unveil the verses of the Bible. Julius doubts his mental stability due to his repetitive utterances. Pope also realizes that he was searching for the faces of Jesus, Judas, and Mother Mary in the whitewashed brick walls. Although Angelo was able to envision the shapes of their bodies, he struggled to reveal the faces that were hidden.

Pope eagerly wanted to know how Angelo drew Gabriel's face as he didn't belong to this world. Angelo replies that he had heard his voice in the Old Testament to which Julius sarcastically jokes that he must have heard the voice of God also. Angelo responded that he heard his silence. Pope eventually feels elated that he chose the right person.

Michelangelo finds the face of Mother Mary

Michaelangelo chooses his mother's face as the model for Mary inspired by the sight of his mother working hard and carrying drums of water balanced on a bamboo pole across her shoulder. He thinks that only a woman of that caliber could carry the son of God in her womb. Angelo is captivated by the way his mother's face glowed when she lit the fire to heat water for his father's bath. He couldn't stop himself from drawing sketches of her face on the paper. Michael inquires his mother why she did not give birth to Jesus, to which she explains that it was because of his father’s drunken condition.

He remembered watching his mother with unblinking eyes as she warmed the water for his father’s bath. Her face reflected the warmth of the roaring fire—flushed, burning like molten gold. Michelangelo had immediately retired to his study to sketch that face, again and again.

The incident in Bologna

He recalls an incident years ago when they lived in Bologna. He remembers that there was a pub in the corner of the lane which was a favourite spot for both him and his father. Michael would drink outside the pub while his father preferred to sit inside. He used to buy peanuts from a nearby vendor sitting across from him. When the vendor weighed the peanuts, some of them would fall on the ground and a naked boy would pick them up and put some in his mouth and the rest into his basket. Michael later uses the same naked child’s face to draw baby Jesus. Later Pope Julius asks Michelangelo to paint the frescos of the Sistine Chapel. Initially, he refuses as he feels he is a sculptor rather than a painter but later agrees as it would bring him glory and secure a place in history. Also, he needed money to buy marbles for sculpting.

Michelangelo's weariness with colours

Pope had promised Angelo to give him money but failed to do so. It has been documented that when Michel was working in the Sistine Chapel, Pope Julius questioned him as to why he preferred marble sculpture over painting. The reason was that he had little affinity for colours that overlapped with one another losing their purity whereas marble remained constant and did not fade away. The author quotes that he has grown weary of colours that mirrored his exhaustion with Rome.

‘Colours merge,’ Michelangelo had retorted. ‘They lose their identity and mix with others, unlike marble.’

Four years had sped past. He had only one panel left to paint in the chapel - The Last Supper. Whenever Angelo tried to envision Judas, the twelfth disciple of Jesus who had betrayed his savior to the Romans for thirty pieces of Silver and in his crucifixion, he drew a blank. Angelo spent days making sketches through his old drawings but was dissatisfied. This in turn made Julius extremely impatient.

Michel encounters Judas

One day Michel encounters Judas in a small shabby pub in Rome. His eyes had an eerie glint and appeared restless whose body saggy with age. He spoke rapidly as though words were spilling like coins from his mouth. He asks for a dinar from Michel but ends up sharing a bottle of wine. He then finds Judas soliciting two dinars from someone else as Angelo leaves the pub.

This encounter provoked Michel to strike a deal with the man. So he proposes to pose as Judas for the painting promising him immortality in return. Michel lifts the drapes and reveals to him the walls and ceilings of the chapel. He sees them in astonishment and demands a huge sum of money. Angelo agrees to pay him. While reviewing Angelos's old paintings, the man inquires about the painting of baby Jesus. Michel replies by stating it was the face of the child Marsolini whom he had drawn while living in Bologna.

In the end, we come to know that the model Michelangelo was going to use as Judas was the same person whom he previously used for the face of baby Jesus in the statue of Madonna.

The man smiled. He rolled up his sleeve. There was a name tattooed on his arm— Marsolini. ‘I am that child,’ the man said. ‘He whose face you are giving to Judas today.’

Moral of the story

The story interprets artistic genius but also about how circumstances shape human experience. Despite his genius skills, he struggles to grasp the duality of man which is both divine and flawed. The painter's final moments and the incomplete portrait symbolize the ongoing struggle and the inherent imperfection in the quest for artistic and personal fulfillment.

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