Rebellious Slave

A young captive twists and strains against the bands binding his arms, his whole body wrung into a spiral of struggle that seems about to burst the marble. He was carved for the tomb of Pope Julius II - a grandiose scheme that shrank again and again over decades, its sculptures finally scattered - and his meaning is still argued: the soul shackled to the flesh, a conquered province, or the arts left captive by the patron's death. Whatever the bonds, the figure embodies effort itself. Michelangelo's Moses, from the same long-frustrated tomb, is also in this collection.