Michelangelo (1475-1564) was a sculptor, painter and architect widely

considered to be one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance period

and arguably of all time. His work demonstrated a blend of psychological
insight, physical realism and intensity never before seen. His contemporaries
recognized his extraordinary talent, and Michelangelo received commissions
from some of the most wealthy and powerful men of his day, including popes
and others affiliated with the Catholic Church. His resulting work, most notably
his Piet and David sculptures and Sistine Chapel ceiling paintings, has been
carefully tended and preserved, ensuring that future generations would be
able to view and appreciate Michelangelos genius. MICHELANGELO: EARLY LIFE
AND TRAINING

Michelangelo Buonarroti (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni) was

born on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, Italy. His father worked for the Florentine
government, and shortly after his birth his family returned to Florence, the city
Michelangelo would always consider his true home.
Florence during the Renaissance period was a vibrant arts center, an
opportune locale for Michelangelos innate talents to develop and flourish. His
mother died when he was 6, and initially his father initially did not approve of
his sons interest in art as a career. At 13, Michelangelo was apprenticed to
painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, particularly known for his murals. A year later,
his talent drew the attention of Florences leading citizen and art patron,
Lorenzo de Medici, who enjoyed the intellectual stimulation of being
surrounded by the citys most literate, poetic and talented men. He extended
an invitation to Michelangelo to reside in a room of his palatial home.
Michelangelo learned from and was inspired by the scholars and writers in
Lorenzos intellectual circle, and his later work would forever be informed by
what he learned about philosophy and politics in those years. While staying in

the Medici home, he also refined his technique under the tutelage of Bertoldo
di Giovanni, keeper of Lorenzos collection of ancient Roman sculptures and a
noted sculptor himself. Although Michelangelo expressed his genius in many
media, he would always consider himself a sculptor first.

MICHELANGELO: THE PIETA AND DAVID

Michelangelo was working in Rome by 1498, when he received a careermaking commission from the visiting French cardinal Jean Bilhres de
Lagraulas, envoy of King Charles VIII to the pope. The cardinal wanted to
create a substantial statue depicting a draped Virgin Mary with her dead son
resting in her armsa Pietto grace his own future tomb. Michelangelos
delicate 69-inch-tall masterpiece featuring two intricate figures carved from
one block of marble continues to draw legions of visitors to St. Peters Basilica
more than 500 years after its completion.
Michelangelo returned to Florence and in 1501 was contracted to create,
again from marble, a huge male figure to enhance the citys famous Duomo,
officially the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. He chose to depict the young
David from the Old Testament, heroic, energetic, powerful and spiritual, and
literally larger than life at 17 feet tall. The sculpture, considered by scholars to
be nearly technically perfect, remains in Florence at the Galleria
dellAccademia, where it is a world-renowned symbol of the city and its artistic
heritage.

MICHELANGELO AND THE SISTINE CHAPEL

CEILING
In 1505, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to sculpt him a grand
tomb with 40 life-size statues, and the artist began work. But the popes
priorities shifted away from the project as he became embroiled in military
disputes and his funds became scarce, and a displeased Michelangelo left
Rome (although he continued to work on the tomb, off and on, for decades).

However, in 1508, Julius called Michelangelo back to Rome for a less

expensive, but still ambitious painting project: to depict the 12 apostles on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a most sacred part of the Vatican where new
popes are elected and inaugurated.
Instead, over the course of the four-year project, Michelangelo painted 12
figuresseven prophets and five sibyls (female prophets of myth)around
the border of the ceiling, and filled the central space with scenes from
Genesis. Critics suggest that the way Michelangelo depicts the prophet
Ezekielas strong yet stressed, determined yet unsureis symbolic of
Michelangelos sensitivity to the intrinsic complexity of the human condition.
The most famous Sistine Chapel ceiling painting is the emotion-infused The
Creation of Adam, in which God and Adam outstretch their hands to one
another.

MICHELANGELO: ARCHITECTURE, POETRY,

MORALITY
Michelangelo continued to sculpt and paint until his death, although he
increasingly worked on architectural projects as he aged: His work from 1520
to 1527 on the interior of the Medici Chapel in Florence included wall designs,
windows and cornices that were unusual in their design as well as proportions
and introduced startling variations on classical forms. Michelangelo also
designed the iconic dome of St. Peters Basilica in Rome (although its
completion came after his death). Among his other masterpieces are Moses
(sculpture, completed 1515); The Last Judgment (painting, completed 1534);
and Day, Night, Dawn and Dusk (sculptures, all completed by 1533).
From the 1530s on, Michelangelo wrote poems; about 300 survive. Many
incorporate the philosophy of Neo-Platonismthat a human soul, powered by
love and ecstasy, can reunite with an almighty Godideas that had been the
subject of intense discussion while he was an adolescent living in Lorenzo de
Medicis household.

After he left Florence permanently in 1534 for Rome, Michelangelo also wrote
many lyrical letters to his family members who remained there. The theme of
many was his strong attachment to various young men, especially aristocrat
Tommaso Cavalieri. Scholars debate whether this was more an expression of
homosexuality or a bittersweet longing by the unmarried, childless, aging
Michelangelo for a father-son relationship.
Michelangelo died after a short illness in 1564 at 88, surviving far past the
usual life expectancy of the era. A piet he had begun sculpting in the late
1540s, intended for his own tomb, remained unfinished but is on display at the
Museo dellOpera del Duomo, in Florencenot very far from where
Michelangelo is buried, at the Basilica di Santa Croce.