153 
II 
Moses 
The 
which 
the 
powers 
of  
Michael 
Angela's mind has presented to our view, claims 
our first attention. In this statue the points of 
character, in every mode of precise, determinate, 
and elevated expression, have been carried to a 
pitch 
of 
grandeur 
which 
modern 
art 
has 
not 
since excelled. 
In this figure of .Moses, 
Michael 
Angelo has 
the Jewish 
fixed the unalterable standard of 
lawgiver,-a. character delineated 
and justified by the text in inspired sculpture. 
The character of Moses was well suited to the 
grandeur of the artist's conceptions, and to the 
dreadful energy of his feelings. Accordingly, 
in mental character, 
this 
figure 
holds 
the 
Hrst 
station 
in 
modern 
art 3 
and 
I 
believe 
 we 
may 
venture to say, had:n0 competitor in ancient, 
except those of the Jupiter and Minerva. 
by Phidias. But the Saviour, all meekness and 
benevolence, which Michael Angelo made to 
accompany the Moses, was inot in unison with 
his genius. The figure is mean, but slightly 
removed fi'0m an academical figure, and in no 
-point appropriate to the subject: so are most of 
the single figures of the artist, in his great work 
on the Day of Judgment; but his g1'oupsinthag