The Punishment of Tityus

In 1532-1534, Michelangelo produced a series of drawings for his friend and love of his life, Tommaso Cavalieri. Greatly admired by graphic artists, these drawings with Classical-mythological themes were probably intended to enhance the young man’s talents as draughtsman. Some of them, however, also offer moral guidance. Most of these drawings have survived to the present day. The theme of the engraving by Nicolas Béatrizet, an artist from Lorraine who was active in Rome, is the punishment of Tityus the Giant for his attempt to rape the goddess Leto. He is tied down in the Underworld, where two vultures fly in every day to feed on his liver. The organ re-grows each time and the painful punishment is repeated. The liver was considered the seat of the passions and the myth a symbol of punishment for unrestrained carnal desires.