Michelangelo the portraist: Lorenzo de' Medici, duca d'Urbino

Speranza

Lorenzo is the symbol of the contemplative life.

Lorenzo withdraws from us into the shadow of his helmet.

His pose is of deep meditation, his body heavy and still.

Even the mannered position of his right arm is undisturbing because it seems to be unselfconscious.

He broods in that bodily awkwardness which is often apparent in abstracted men.