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At 08:36 97-11-25 -0500, you wrote: >> I'm as fascinated by the beard on Michelangelo's Moses as by the horns. It seems unnatural and overly luxuriant, as if it would have hung down to his thighs if he had stood up. So far as I know, men's beards don't really grow that long, even if never trimmed. read sigmund freud's essay michaelangelo's david: a masterpiece of attention to the anomalous detail. > >rlandes > Richard. The question of long beards is very interesting. I've never read Freud's essay, so I can't comment his view. One think is sure, the long beard is quite common during the Middle Age (12th - 15th c.) in the representation of Prophets and old figures from the Bible. In stained glass, for the representation of the Prophets in the clerestory windows, the beards are excessively developed, probabely to be seen much better from the nave. The Claus Sluter sculpture (Puits de Moise), has maybe been a model for Michaelangelo: a very, very long beard, horns, even the head is turn the same side, and many other details. Of course, Michaelangelo's Moses is treated differentely, but we must not forget that ideas circulated a lot from the Northern regions to Italy, from Italy to the Northern regions. Claire Labrecque Un.Laval, Quebec. [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%