Moses (Michelangelo)

Michelangelo's Moses is a 235-centimetre marble statue in the Roman church of San Pietro in Vincoli and one of the key works of the High Renaissance. Michelangelo carved it between 1513 and 1515 as part of the tomb of Pope Julius II, originally planned with forty figures - the full design was abandoned for lack of funds and competing commissions. Moses sits with the tablets of the Law, his gaze turning sideways, his long beard winding around his right arm; the horns on his head trace back to a medieval mistranslation of the Bible. Sigmund Freud devoted a famous 1914 essay to the sculpture and its tension between self-control and wrath. The work still stands in its original setting in the unassuming church near the Colosseum. Entry is free; avoid the midday closure between 12 and 3 pm.