The Madonna above the tomb of Julius II.

cannot be accused of masculinity, nor the ecstatic figure of the Rachel beneath it.

Both of these statues represent what Goethe called "das ewig Weibliche" under a truly felt and natural aspect.

The Delphian and Erythrean Sibyls are superb in their majesty.

Again, in those numerous designs for Crucifixions, Depositions from the Cross, and Pietas, which occupied so much of Michelangelo's attention during his old age, we find an intense and pathetic sympathy with the sorrows of Mary, expressed with noble dignity and a pious sense of godhead in the human mother.