Michelangelo

Michelangelo, born on the 6th of March 1475 in Caprese, was an Italian painter, architect,

engineer, sculptor, and poet of the Renaissance. He was one of the most influential and iconic

artist of the Italian Renaissance. Born to Buonarrota Simoni as Michelangelo di Lodovico

Buonarroti Simoni, he was placed with a family of stonecutters due to his mother’s illness.

Michelangelo never caught on to his studies and instead was much more interested in the

painters at churches. He was much more interested in learning how to paint like that and would

sketch the paintings he saw. Michelangelo’s father was quick to realize that his son had no

interest in studies or his family business and apprenticed him to Ghirlandaio at the age of 13. He

learned the style of frescos which was a Late Medieval style but also an Early Renaissance style

begun by Giotto and used by Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel, both of whom Michelangelo

studied.

After only spending a year at the workshop, he moved into the palace of Lorenzo the

Magnificent whom of which ruled Florentine, when he asked Ghirlandaio for his two best pupils.

Michelangelo went along with Francesco Granacci and from 1490 to 1492 he studied at the

Humanist academy. During his years with the Medici family, it allowed him to study under the

sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni. He also obtained permission from the Catholic Church to study

corpses to better his own knowledge of anatomy.

After the death or Lorenzo the Magnificent, there was conflict regarding politics and the

Medici was expelled from Florence causing Michelangelo to flee to Bologna. He returned to

Florence in 1495 and began his career as a sculptor. His style was majorly influenced by the

classical era. Soon after he relocated to Rome in 1498 Jean Bilheres de Lagraulas, a

representative of King Charles VIII to the pope furthered his career and his growing reputation.

He commissioned him to carve a Pietà, one of the most know sculptures of this time period. It

was a sculpture showing the Virgin Mary holding the body of her dead son Jesus. It was finished

in less than a year when Michelangelo was 24. It was incredibly realistic and detailed due to

Michelangelo's knowledge of anatomy.

When Michelangelo returned to Florence, he had become well known and his work

revered. He took the challenge of creating a statue of “David”, which two prior sculptors failed

to do so. He was able to turn a 17 –foot piece of marble into the realistic and remarkable figure

that is David. The symbolism that this statue possessed made it a prized representative of

Florence.

As his reputation grew so did the number of commissions and the caliber of them. He had

a commission for the tomb of Pope Julius II in 1505 which he worked on for 40 years and was

never satisfied. During the same time, Michelangelo also switched from a sculptor to a painter to

paint the ceiling of the renowned Sistine Chapel in 1508. The original plan was to have the 12

apostles but it soon turned into a ceiling housing more than 300 figures. It was however,

unfortunately, due to an infectious fungus in the plaster, the whole completed masterpiece

needed to be removed and recreated. Michelangelo fired all of his assistants and spent countless

hours and nights working on the 65-foot ceiling alone until finally revealing the finished work on

October 31st, 1512.

This became a transcendent piece of the Renaissance and inspired many artist and

sculptors to follow. The ceiling produced what was known as a kaleidoscope effect. This work

was so iconic and inspirational at the time even his rival painter, Raphael, altered his painting

style after seeing the work. However, his works and career was not without conflict. His work

the “Last Judgment”, also in the Sistine Chapel in 1541 caused a conflict. The nude figures were

deemed unholy and sacrilegious. Letters from Cardinal Carafa and Mantua’s ambassador,

Monsignor Sernini, called for the destruction of the Renaissance’s largest fresco. The pope

resisted but shortly after Michelangelo’s death in 1564, the Council of Trent commissioned

Daniele da Volterra, an apprentice of Michelangelo, adjusts the fresco.

Michelangelo began to write in the later of his years. Much of Michelangelo's literary

works were melancholy. He wrote about his lack of friends and happiness along with the

physical pain he endured for his work and the political strife of Florence. His apprentice Ascanio

Condivi said he was indifferent to food and drink. Eating was a chore for him, something done

out of necessity rather than for pleasure. He wrote over 300 sonnets and madrigals or polyphonic

songs which were devoted to a widow named Vittoria Colonna. Even with all the work, stress,

pain, and sorrow he had to endure he found room in his life for her. Their friendship gave him

great him great comfort in his time of distress and sorrow until she died in 1547. Condivi noted

that he recalled Michelangelo saying his sole regret in life was never kissing her face.

On February 18th, 1564 Michelangelo took his last breath at his home in Macel de’Corvi,

Rome. His nephew bore his body back to Florence where he was laid to rest and revered by the

public as the “father and master of all arts.”

Michelangelo was able to make a name for himself and was a major part in the revival of

the classical past. He brought great inspiration and power from his art and sculptures. Ironically

he was a humanistic artist that sculpted and painted many religious pieces. His name will never

be forgotten as one of the best artist and geniuses of the Italian Renaissance.