Whoever says that a work of art must be perfect has no idea of art. Nor of life. Moreover, if the human being is the greatest work of art in history, he is far from perfect. Especially in recent times.
Be that as it may, and returning to the imperfections, today we are going to review the mistakes you didn’t know about the most famous works of art. Works that have marked history in their disciplines and that have inspired millions of people since their creation. Errors that in some cases were unintentional, but in others, as we well know, were made on purpose.
David – Michelangelo
We start with the Michelangelo’s David for being the most curious paradox that we will review. It is because the statue of David is, for many, the quintessence of anatomical precision. In fact, the Italian author was obsessed with proportions, realism and tried to make all his works perfect. And, things of life, and of the carrara marblehis most universal sculpture, is imperfect.
It is only in a small detail. In David’s back area, between the spine and the right shoulder blade, a muscle is missing that Michelangelo could not define. Of course, the fault was the block of marble used to carve it, because right in the area that said muscle would go, there was not enough material to delimit it.
That said, this mistake doesn’t detract from the genius of what Michelangelo did. For those who have not seen the sculpture, we are talking about a carving of 5.16 meters and 5.5 tons of weight. A true monstrosity, made from a single block of Carrara marble. A work that intimidated two of the most renowned artists of the time. Agostino di Duccio and Antonio Rosellino resigned from the commission.
The Ninth Wave – Ivan Aivazovsky
The painter Ivan Aivazovsky he had a miscalculation of who does not know the sea as he should. In his work ninth wavethe artist captured the waves of a sea raging by the storm, giving special relevance to the crests of the waves. These, in a particular movement, absorb the gaze of everyone who stands in front of the painting.
The problem that the artist had was one of supposition. Ivan Aivazovsky assumed that the waves that break on the shore, where he was, do so in a similar way throughout the narrowness of the sea. reality dictates that waves, when there is a storm on the high seas, they have a cone shape very quirky. It is due to the depth under water. Completely different from those on the shore, where the sand acts as a lower parapet.
Moses – Michelangelo
Double of the great Michelangelo Buonarroti and, again, with another of his capital works: Moses. Another imposing sculpture that, in this case, was conceived with a gross error from the beginning.
And it is that the artist, when taking the Exodus of the Bible, to be inspired by his work, took an erroneous translation of the Old Testament… which led him to interpret it with horns! The reason is that in ancient Hebrew, the word karnaim means lightning, but it also means horns. And of course, Michelangelo read “His face emanated rays of light” but he interpreted “Prominent horns emanated from his face.”
With Google it would not have happened, but of course… Despite this, and given the nature of the error, the Church has had no problem recognizing another great work, one more, by the great artist.
A Bar at the Folies Bergere by Edouard Manet
That reflections are very treacherous, we know very well thanks to Instagram. At least in the social network, it has a solution. complicated in the case of Edouard Manet. The great painter was not entirely lucky in his work A bar at the Folies Bergereswhen it was his turn to represent the reflection of the mirror behind the bar.
For starters, the reflection bottles are placed differently. But it is that the protagonist of the painting, in reality looks straight ahead, but in the reflection she is looking at a client. The question is,Did he do it consciously or did it escape him?? Seems too gross a bug not to be intentional, right? And not just one.
The Night Watch – Rembrandt
The Night Watch It is one of the works with more mysteries, legends and myths in the history of art. In fact, to this day, all its corners are still being investigated. Of course, the one who focuses all eyes on the painting, is the captain Frans Banning Cocq. The reason? what to wear two right gloves on his hands.
Theories are kicking. The two most widespread are the one that holds that it is a left glove that holds without putting on; and the one that, directly, affirms that Rembrandt he wanted to give a humorous point to his painting. Obviously, we want to think that the second is true,
The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli
The Renaissance meant for art the elevation of the perfect. The search for millimetric anatomical precision. At least for most artists, because sandro Botticelli he had his own plans. Furthermore, his paintings are the opposite of anatomical perfection, as he demonstrated in The Birth of Venus.
The Goddess of Beauty, in the work of the Italian author, had the extremely long neck. Not content with giving Venus a giraffe, he drew a sort of bunion on the foot which is already art history. The best thing is that, according to the writings, the author did everything on purpose. A revolutionary.
Sistine Madonna by Raphael Sanzio
Yes Raphael Sanzio he wanted them to take a good look at his sistine madonna, he got it. With note. The Italian artist made millions of people believe that his Pope Sixtus II had six fingers on his right hand.. After much looking, it can be seen that the presumed sixth finger is the inside of the hand. Or not?
The thing is not there. the Madonna is not spared. And on her right foot, this time yes, everything indicates that she has one little finger too many. And this cannot be a coincidence.
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