Giambologna, Michelangelo and the Medici Chapel explored in new exhibition

With his interior for the Medici Chapel in Florence, which he created between 1524 and 1534, Michelangelo achieved an unequalled climax in Renaissance sculpture. His monumental personifications of the Times of Day – Dusk and Dawn, Night and Day – are pairs of reclining figures on the sarcophagi of Giuliano and Lorenzo de’ Medici. Almost shocking in their nudity and bold poses, these figures had an enormous impact on generations of artists. Among the numerous replicas of Michelangelo’s Times of Day, the four statuettes held by Dresden’s Skulpturensammlung hold a special position. According to the inventories of the electoral Kunstkammer of 1587 and 1640, the Tuscan grand duke Cosimo I de’ Medici presented Elector August of Saxony with these figures as early as around 1560 or 1570. The exhibition “Shadows of Time. Giambologna, Michelangelo and the Medici Chapel” is shining a light on these master