Michelangelo BUONAROTI
Painter, Sculptor and Architect of Florence
(1475-1564)

Name: Bill
Date: 2002-03-16
Comments: It’s interesting to note that all four gospel narratives give varying accounts as to wording on the sign (title) attached to the cross. Michelangelo must have preferred John’s Gospel because he used the inscription from that account. John, by the way, is the only gospel writer who mentions the spear wound in Jesus’ side.

Name: Irene Imbrogno
Date: 2002-05-25
Comments: The Crucifix,Santo Spirito,was a gift to the Prior of Santo Spirito Hospital.It was hung behind the altar of a church.It disappeared for a time,then found again.
It is a small piece,with Jesus Christ on the cross.It is a very different rendering,of Christ than the beautifully muscled figure,Michelangelo endows his subjects.The facial expression is somewhat superficial.The profound sorrow and pathos is missing.It isn't in keeping,with Michelangelo's other works.

Name: Dragos
Date: 2002-10-18
Comments: It is interesting how the nees and the head are made in oposites directions to sugest contrast. it is diferent from that period.

Name: laurie
Date: 2003-02-19
Comments: there is a lot of debate in the art world if this piece was actually done by michelangelo. Umberto Baldini examined the piece and decided it was, but many critics are not satisfied with his findings.

Name: Dr. Frank Latimer
Date: 2003-12-11
Comments: Interesting in that Jesus is nude. This could represent his purity, or innocence, or vulnerability. I don't recall seeing another Renaissance-era nude Jesus. I can't say for sure if by Michelangelo but it is very nice.

Name: John Spike
Date: 2007-04-27
Comments: “It has a distinctively Augustinian quality,” an old priest remarked to me one day when I had gone to see the crucifix in its new hanging in the sacristy of Santo Spirito. He was referring to its unblemished perfection. The Savior’s delicate body looks hardly marked by the Passion trauma. His are eyes are gently closed as if in sleep. Death where is thy sting? St Augustine’s philosophical cast of mind was oblivious to the slings and arrows of mere mortality. For Santo Spirito, Michelangelo carved a crucifix for Augustinian friars desirous to contemplate the higher, absolute truth of God.