to suffer and die for others. Although a little uncertain in places, the work is a remarkable feat for a youth of 15 or 16. The Madonna of the Steps is a small work, carved in very low relief, with a fluent treatment of the Madonna's voluminous Robe. The Steps may symbolize the link between heaven and the holy mother and child.
             The Battle of the Centaurs was completed shortly before the death of his patron, Lorenzo de' Medici, which occurred on April 8, 1492. By contrast with The Madonna of the Steps, it is carved in a high relief that emphasizes the physicality of the scene. The influence of the Roman statuary, which Michelangelo studied in Lorenzo's garden is apparent in the ideal beauty and naked splendor of the figures; Michelangelo shows them in a great variety of postures, in violent interaction, with an astonishingly mature mastery. The subject was taken from classical mythology. The Centaur was a half-human creature, with a head and torso set on the body of a horse. However, Michelangelo arranged the group so that it looks like a battle involving only human antagonists. Here, at the outset of his career, he has found his principal vehicle of artistic expression- the human body.
             Michelangelo's reputation grew quickly and the banker Jacopo Galli who commissioned him to carve "The Baccus" then called him to Rome. The young god looks quite drunk while holding a lion skin (symbol of death) and grapes (symbol of life) on which a faun is feeding. This statue was considered such a great achievement that the cardinal of St. Denis immediately asked Michelangelo to sculpture a Pieta for one of the chapels in St. Peter's.
             A Pieta is a representation of the crucified Christ, laid out in the lap of his sorrowing mother. During the 15th century the subject was common in France and Germany but little-known in Italy; and Michelangelo's great sculpture was in fact commissioned by a French cardinal-dip...