Describe the characteristics of the Fibula as a study for the head in Brutus (Michelangelo)'s The work.
Giorgio Vasari wrote that Michelangelo had modeled Brutus from the image cut into a gem. Later scholars did not find the work to resemble any such extant gem, supposing instead that it may have been modeled after a bust of Caracalla. De Tolnay in 1935 published his observation that the fibula in the sculpture is a study for the sculpture itself, providing a missing link to show the resemblance to classical coinage.The shape of the head itself is simpler than that of the silhouette on the shoulder. According to de Tolnay:In the former (the fibula), the silhouette of the head is roundish; the forehead in relief shows movement; the outline of the nose is undulating; the line of the lips is soft; the chin is sharply rounded. In the latter (the bust), everything is simplified for cutting; the comparatively small head rises above an unusually broad bull-neck, and has an almost straight rectangular silhouette; the forehead is quite smoothed off; the nose is severely straight; the lips are hard; the chin is angular and protruding. The minor details have disappeared and only the form as a whole remains effective. This evolution from an empirical, individual prototype to a universal, ideal type is characteristic of Michelangelo's procedure, and may be seen even in his early work.
Giorgio Vasari Michelangelo Caracalla fibula bust Brutus