Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy: Groaning to Be Set Free

Michelangelo (1475-1564) was a sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. Although he lived to the fine old age of 88, he accepted more commissions than he could ever complete – even if he lived to be a hundred. He has, therefore, left behind some unfinished works, particularly his incomplete bound “slave” statues that were to adorn the tomb of Pope Julius II, also left unfinished.

I am sure that, at the onset, Michelangelo intended to complete them. When he realized that he would never accomplish what he set out to do, however, I believe that he purposely left them unfinished. Why would he intentionally do so? Michelangelo, I would argue, realized that these unfinished statues of the bound slaves simultaneously exemplified both a sculptural principle to which he adhered and to a theological truth that he believed. …

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