Michelangelo Buonarotti, Awakening Slave, 1519-36, marble sculpture

This unfinished work was originally intended for the Tomb of Pope Julius II, but the Pope diverted Michelangelo from this task to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo would have preferred to continue his sculpting, and wrote poems to vent his frustration:

    I am bending like a Syrian bow

    John, come to the rescue

    Of my dead painting now, and of my honor

    I am not in a good place. And I am no painter!  --  Michelangelo