Moses, the Tomb of Julius II – While the restoration work coordinated by the Curator of the Tomb of Julius II was in progress, I was given the opportunity to photograph this monument by Michelangelo, located in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains), including his famous sculpture of Moses. Michelangelo has depicted the prophet in a seated position, with his bearded head turned to the left, his right foot resting on the ground and his left leg raised with only the tip of his foot resting on the base. His left arm is in his lap, the right one holds the Tablets of the Law, while the right hand is twirling his long beard. The statue, as a composition, expresses the solemnity and majesty of the biblical character. In my photographic study of the monument I bore in mind both Freud’s essay on Moses and the discoveries of restorer Antonio Forcellino concerning the evidence of subsequent re-working of the statue. These could be linked to Michelangelo’s Neoplatonic leanings and were later incorporated into the overall re-reading of the entire monument made by the distinguished scholar of the Italian Renaissance, Christoph L. Frommel’s. The Moses reportage was one of my most important assignments for three essential reasons: in the first place, a very high scaffolding had been erected to carry out the restoration which allowed me to take photographs that otherwise would not have been possible, for instance the close-up of Julius II, the della Rovere Pope. Secondly, thanks to that reportage (which, in addition to Moses, included all the works originally designed for the Tomb – including the famous “Prisoners”, now displayed at the Louvre) I later got the opportunity to photograph almost all of Michelangelo’s sculptural works. Finally, and this is something that is particularly dear to my heart, on that occasion I established a relationship of friendship and esteem with Prof. Frommel which continued in the years that followed and during many collaborative projects.
