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Ajax

The Belvedere Torso is a fragmentary marble statue of a nude male, known to be in Rome from the 1430s, It is now in the Vatican Museums. It's believed to b...
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The Belvedere Torso is a fragmentary marble statue of a nude male, known to be in Rome from the 1430s, It is now in the Vatican Museums. It's believed to be a copy from the 1st century BC or AD of an older statue, which probably dated to the early 2nd century BC.

The identity of the figure has been the subject of various interpretations through the centuries. The most favored hypothesis presently identifies it as the Greek hero Ajax, son of Telamon, in the act of contemplating his suicide.

Michelangelo's admiration of the Torso was widely known in his lifetime. Legend has it that Pope Julius II requested that Michelangelo complete the statue fragment with arms, legs and a face. He respectfully declined, stating that it was too beautiful to be altered, and instead used it as the inspiration for several of the figures on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, including the Sibyls and Prophets along the borders, and both the risen Christ and St. Bartholomew in The Last Judgement.
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