1550
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dream of Human Life is a 1550 by Michelangelo, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This print shows a chaotic scene with a muscular man sitting on a giant globe. Around him, smaller figures scramble—some fly, others crawl, and a few hold skulls. One winged figure hovers above, pointing downward like a judge. The background looks like a stormy sky, and the whole image is drawn in sharp lines with no color. The skulls in the lower corner might hint at death or time passing. The artist’s name, *Michael Angelus Inven*, is signed at the bottom, which is an old way of writing Michelangelo’s name. Check out the Victoria and Albert Museum to see this print in person.
The engraving *Dream of Human Life* is attributed to an artist after Michelangelo, created around 1550 on paper. It depicts a reclining male figure with an inscription reading "MICHAEL ANGELVS IN VEN" beneath his grounded foot.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance.
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