# Dawn

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/dawn-rba131b10f42054>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [MICHELANGELO Buonarroti](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b>)
- Date: 1501-1550
- Technique: Marble, length: 203 cm

## Commentary

The picture shows the figure of Dawn, a detail of the tomb of Lorenzo de&#39; Medici. The New Sacristy is also of interest because it contains Michelangelo&#39;s only two sculptured female nudes. Unlike comparable figures by other artists, they have been conceived without a trace of eroticism, and it is the absence of obvious sexuality that gives these works their uneasy power. Appropriately, the skin of Dawn is sleek and unmarked while the figure of Night has a more aged body, marked by greater experience. A similar, less marked contrast is apparent in the two male figures.

## Related artworks

- [A Man Lifting a Boar onto his Shoulder \(verso\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/a-man-lifting-a-boar-onto-his-shoulder-verso-r115b841cb7830d>)
- [Abraham - Isaac - Jacob - Judah](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/abraham---isaac---jacob---judah-re59033e00c75bc>)
- [Achim - Eliud \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/achim---eliud-detail-r8732f548c94eeb>)
- [Achim - Eliud \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/achim---eliud-detail-r88d58f08bdbf25>)
- [Achim - Eliud](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/achim---eliud-rdc3468170d2d71>)
- [Aeneas with a Boy \(recto\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/aeneas-with-a-boy-recto-r1b3406e4b4af98>)
- [Allegorical figure](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/allegorical-figure-r75fcb28139de00>)
- [Amminadab \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/amminadab-detail-r49171c9661e417>)
- [Amminadab \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/amminadab-detail-r65ca91139b9ee7>)
- [Amminadab](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/amminadab-re78a9712f2390d>)
- [Ancestors of Christ: figures \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/ancestors-of-christ-figures-detail-r2819d177fc0ff3>)
- [Ancestors of Christ: figures \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/michelangelo-buonarroti-r3de9890382970b/ancestors-of-christ-figures-detail-r52f3f69788f7b7>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)