Florence - Michelangelo House Casa Buonarroti

Two original sculptures by Michelangelo merit special attention: "Battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths", a marble relief which, although Michelangelo was only 17 when he created it, presages in the sense of movement and substantial nature of the figures, much of his later mastery; and "Madonna and Child" (or "Madonna della Scala"), Michelangelo's earliest work, completed at the age of 16. The signs of genius are already clearly marked in the sense of space, the flow and counterflow on the steps on the left (hence the name "Madonna of the Steps"), the rich expression of the profile, the fall of the mantle.