Virtue directly
translates to the “essence of man” which means that the word ‘man’ and the word
‘virtue’ can essentially be used interchangeably. Machiavelli and Michelangelo both
painted and wrote about what it means to be a man, but in completely different
ways with different beliefs about what it means to be a man. Machiavelli uses
the example of what a prince should be like to describe what man is whereas
Michelangelo reaches out to God’s likeness to describe what a man should be.
Machiavelli’s
text, The Prince, compares what the
people are like to what the leader should be like. For example, on page 42 the
text states, “Any man who tries to be good all the time is bound to come to
ruin among the great number who are not good. Hence a prince who wants to keep
his authority must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain
from using it, as necessity requires.” Therefore, a man who wants to be ‘The
Prince’ or have authority and power over others must be what the people are. By
comparing this to politics today, leaders like Mitt Romney will not be voted
into office, but leaders like Donald Trump will be voted into office because
the majority of the population thinks along the same lines as Donald Trump. Machiavelli
thinks that man should be powerful and what the people want. Another example
from The Prince is found on page 115
and says, “the means of attaining glory are different in a republic that is
corrupt from what they are in a republic that still preserves its institutions
pure.” This explains the difference that man can and has the ability to be. For
example, nations that are one thing will follow a man who is the same. But the
nation who values other things will value the leader who values those same
things.
Michelangelo
on the other hand describes man in a completely different way. He pulls from
God’s likeness to describe what man should be. His sculpture David was described as “a symbol of the Ideal Renaissance man- a speaker of words, and a
doer of deeds, a king, a shepherd, a poet, and a lover.”
These things that David symbolizes are traits that God also symbolizes. Michelangelo
showed through his sculpture of David the
beauty, strength, and goodness that man can be by being like God. He shows that
virtue comes from God. Michelangelo’s painting the Creation of Adam also shows the similarities but differences from
man to God. It is said that “Michelangelo strove in every way to
restore to Adam's presence his corporeity, the features of ancient beauty. With
great daring he even transferred this visible and corporal beauty to the
Creator himself. We are probably witnesses to an extraordinary piece of
artistic audacity, since it is impossible to impose the likeness proper to man on
the invisible God.” Michelangelo truly loved the beauty that man could have
when based off of God’s beauty. He showed this through his artwork that man is
truly from the likeness of God.
Overall,
there is a lot to what man is or is not. Some of what man is is based off of
what authority men want or what men can have. Man is also based off of what God
shows what men could be. Machiavelli’s view is very different from
Michelangelo’s but both show how what man is based off of another power whether
God or man. Both artists show how man is strong and
powerful and great. The essence of virtue lies in man itself.
