Dying Slave

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The Dying Slave is a sculpture by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo. Created between 1513 and 1516, it was to serve with another figure, the Rebellious Slave, at the tomb of Pope Julius II.^[1] It is a marble figure 2.28 metres (7' 6") in height, and is held at the Louvre. The left wrist is strapped to the back of the neck, and there is a band around the chest. A monkey, only partially carved, grasps the left shin, representing art as mere "aping" (mimesis) or suggesting earthly passions. The artist and work were influenced by the late-BC Rhodian sculpture Laocoön and his Sons.

In 1976 the art historian Richard Fly wrote that the sculpture "suggests that moment when life capitulates before the relentless force of dead matter".^[2]

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v • d • e Michelangelo List of works Sculptures Faun • Madonna of the Steps (c. 1491) • Battle of the Centaurs (c. 1492) • Crucifix (1492) • Hercules • The Ark of St Dominic • St Petronius (1494–95) • St Proclus (1494–95) • Angel (1494–95) • Sleeping Cupid (1496) • Standing Cupid • Bacchus (1496–97) • Crucifix (1497-98?) • Pietà (1499–1500) • David (1501-04) • Madonna of Bruges (1501–04) • St. Paul (1503–04) • St. Peter (1503–04) • Pius (1503–04) • Taddei Tondo (c. 1503) • Pitti Tondo (c. 1503) • St. Matthew (c. 1505) • Tomb of Pope Julius II (1503) • Moses (c. 1513–15) • Rebellious Slave (1513–16) • Dying Slave (1513–16) • Medici Chapel (1520–34) • The Genius of Victory (c. 1532–34) • Rachel (1545) • Leah (1545) • Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici • Tomb of Lorenzo de' Medici • Virgin and Child • Apollo (David) (c. 1530) • Crouching Boy (c. 1530-34) • Cristo della Minerva (Christ Carrying the Cross) (1519–20) • Brutus (1540) • Florentine Pietà (c. 1550) • Rondanini Pietà (1552–64) • Paintings Panel paintings: Manchester Madonna (c. 1497) • Doni Tondo (c. 1503–06) • The Entombment (c. 1505) Sistine Chapel frescoes: Ceiling (1508–12) • The Last Judgment (1534–41) Pauline Chapel frescoes: The Martyrdom of St Peter (1542–50) • The Conversion of Saul (1542–50) Architecture San Lorenzo, Florence: Medici Chapel • Laurentian Library • Façade (unexecuted) Rome: San Giovanni dei Fiorentini • St. Peter's Basilica • Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri • Cordonata Capitolina • Piazza del Campidoglio • Palazzo Farnese • Porta Pia Works on paper Epifania (1550–53)