Belvedere Torso

A fragment — no head, no arms, no lower legs — and yet Michelangelo called it his master. The torque of the twisting torso, the deep-cut abdominal muscles, the way the whole body coils around an invisible axis: every ignudo on the Sistine ceiling owes it a debt. Signed by an Athenian sculptor named Apollonios. Michelangelo refused to 'restore' the missing limbs, insisting the fragment was already complete.