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| Atlas Slave | |
|---|---|
 TheAtlas Slave | |
| Artist | Michelangelo |
| Year | circa 1525–1530 |
| Type | sculpture |
| Medium | marble |
| Dimensions | 277 cm (109 in) |
| Location | Galleria dell'Accademia,Firenze |
| Preceded by | Young Slave |
| Followed by | Awakening Slave |
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TheAtlas Slave is a 2.77m high marble statue byMichelangelo, dated to 1525–1530. It is one of the 'Prisoners', the series of unfinished sculptures for thetomb of Pope Julius II. It is now held in theGalleria dell'Accademia inFlorence.
Before the end of the first project fortomb of Pope Julius II (1505), a series of sculptures was planned for the lower part of the mausoleum. This series, the 'Prisoners', would be a number of larger-than-life statues chained up in various poses representing prisoners leaning on the pillars andherms which flanked the niches. As they were coupled with each niche (featuring images of Winged Victory), there were originally supposed to be sixteen or twenty sculptures. In later plans, this number was reduced to twelve (during the second project in 1513), eight (third project, 1516) and in the end perhaps as low as four (sometime during the fourth or fifth project in 1526 and 1532), before the sculptures were definitively removed from the final project plans in 1542.
The first sculptures in the series, of which there remain traces in Michelangelo's papers, are the twoPrisoners of Paris, who (since the 19th Century) have come to be known as the "Slaves": theDying Slave and theRebellious Slave, both carved in Rome around the year 1513.
Media related toAtlas by Michelangelo Buonarroti at Wikimedia Commons