Renaissance #228 – Drunken Gods and Dead Sons (Michelangelo, part 6)

In this episode, Cameron and Ray follow a very young Michelangelo as he ricochets from political exile to artistic breakthrough, moving from Bologna to Rome while barely out of his teens. We dig into his early sculptures for the tomb of Saint Dominic, including Saint Petronius and Saint Proculus, and unpack how these works quietly prototype the pose and psychology of David years before it exists. Along the way, we explore the ugly economics of Renaissance art, local artists threatening violence, Medici family rivalries, and the strange moral flexibility of church elites who bankroll genius while preaching piety. The story takes a sharp turn with the infamous “sleeping Cupid” forgery, a shady art dealer skimming profits, and Michelangelo’s reluctant introduction to Cardinal Riario. That connection leads to one of the strangest commissions imaginable: a drunken, sensuous statue of Bacchus, carved for a Catholic cardinal who definitely knew exactly what he was doing. The episode closes with Michelangelo’s arrival at the edge of immortality, as he’s commissioned to carve the Pietà at just 22 years old—setting the stage for one of the greatest artistic achievements in human history.