Studio mogul Darryl Zanuck, however, feared that the allotted budget could not accommodate the scheduling and shooting of new scenes and nixed the idea.Ĭarol Reed's stature had fallen some since the days of The Third Man (1949) most recently, he had had a disastrous experience shooting Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) with the unpredictable Marlon Brando. Director Carol Reed and star Charlton Heston both agreed that the inclusion of these scenes would lead to a more rounded portrayal of the angst-ridden artist. Stone sent a proposed treatment to the studio that would open the film with the events surrounding the creation and reception of Michelangelo's David. Twentieth Century Fox decided to restrict their take on the original Renaissance man to one of two paintings completed by Michelangelo: the Sistine Chapel ceiling. But that important observation was lost when it came time to condense the lengthy biography for a screen adaptation. Michelangelo was, first and foremost, a sculptor, according to novelist Irving Stone, who wrote a best-selling novel about the artist entitled The Agony and the Ecstasy. At the mass, Julius is awed by the magnificence of the mural and Michelangelo requests to continue work on the sculptures for the pope's tomb. When the wounded pope returns to Rome and is believed to be dying, Michelangelo visits him and persuades him to go to the Easter mass in the chapel. While Julius is on the battlefield, however, Michelangelo goes to him at the insistence of the Contessina de' Medici and apologizes for his action. Fearful that he may not return from battle, the pope orders the artist to let him view the unfinished work, but Michelangelo refuses. Against many obstacles, including an accidental fall and temporary blindness from the dripping paint, progress continues slowly with constant encouragement from Julius. He returns to Rome and begs the angered pope to allow him to continue his work. While there, he sees visions from Genesis and decides to use them for the theme of the ceiling paintings. Nevertheless, he begins at the pope's insistence, but, discouraged by the mediocrity of his drawings, he destroys them and runs away to the marble quarries in the mountains. The pope later asks Michelangelo to halt work on the tomb and decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but the artist argues that he is not a painter. Only Michelangelo, and a few other geniuses, could create the kind of magnificent art that Julius demanded only Julius had the money and the patience to let Michelangelo create his masterpieces.In 1508, Pope Julius II, whose army is in constant warfare with neighboring states, has commissioned Michelangelo to create 40 statues for his tomb which is to be located in the new St. The two men needed each other as much as they frustrated each other. (Michelangelo's relationship with another great Tuscan, Leonardo Da Vinci, was even worse, for similar reasons.)Īfter near-endless arguments, Michelangelo was paid 10,000 ducats to design and carve statues for Julius' tomb, including the famous Moses. But even the fierce old soldier had to admit that Michelangelo was "un uomo terribile" - a terrible man, meaning fearsome, proud, and hard to get along with. Julius, called the Warrior Pope for leading troops in war, had firm ideas about what he wanted from the artists he hired (via Britannica).
#Agony and ecstasy michelangelo not wanting to paint series#
Art historian Kenneth Clark put it neatly in his famous BBC series "Civilisation" (posted on YouTube): "Heroes do not easily tolerate the company of other heroes."īoth men were larger than life.
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