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After three years with the Medicis (1489 to 1492),
Michelangelo was permitted to access the social elite of Florence, allowing him to study inter the respected sculptor, Bertoldo di Giovanni and exposing him to prominent poets, scholars and learned Humanists. He also obtained special permission from the Catholic Church to study cadavers for insight into anatomy, though exposure to corpses had an adverse effect on his health.
At a tender age of 16, Michelangelo created two
sculptures;
Madonna Seated on a Step
Battle of the Centaurs
After a year,
he was recommended by Domenico Ghirlandaio to
the palace of Florentine ruler Lorenzo the Magnificent, of the
powerful Medici family, to study
classical sculpture in the
Medici gardens.
Legend has it that Michelangelo
overheard pilgrims attribute the
work to another sculptor, so he
boldly carved his signature in the
sash across Mary's chest. It is the
only work to bear his name.
Not long after Michelangelo's relocation to Rome in 1498, his fledgling career was bolstered
by another cardinal, Jean
Bilhères de Lagraulas, a
representative of the French
King Charles VIII to the pope.
He then created the 'Pieta'.
Michelangelo was just
25 years
old at the time.
When Michelangelo went
back to Florence, he
somewhat became an
art star. He took over
a commission for a
statue of "David," which
two prior sculptors had
previously attempted and
abandoned, and turned the
17-foot piece of marble into
a dominating figure.
Following abrief illness,
Michelangelo died on February
18, 1564—just weeks before his 89th
birthday—at his home in Macel de'Corvi,
Rome. A nephew bore his body back to Florence, where he was revered by the public as the "father and master of all the arts," and was laid to rest at the Basilica di Santa Croce—his chosen place of burial.
Unlike many artists, Michelangelo achieved fame and wealth during his lifetime. Appreciation of Michelangelo's artistic mastery has endured for centuries, and his name has become synonymous with the best
of the Italian Renaissance.
Lorenzo de' Medici was an Italian statesman and de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic during the Italian Renaissance. Known as Lorenzo the Magnificent by contemporary Florentines, he was a magnate, diplomat, politician and patron of scholars, artists, and poets.
Bertoldo di Giovanni
was an Italian sculptor and medalist. He later became head and teacher of the school for painters and in particular for sculptors, which Lorenzo de' Medici had founded
in his garden.
The original plan for the Sistine Chapel is 12 apostles but is morphed into more than 300 figures on the ceiling of the sacred space.
Michelangelo fired all of his assistants, whom he deemed inept, and completed the 65-foot ceiling alone, spending endless hours on his back and guarding the project jealously until revealing the finished work, on October 31, 1512.
Francesco Granacci,
his friend from a grammar
school, introduced him to a painter
named Domenico Ghirlandaio and
became his apprentice at the age of 13.
Several commissions followed, including an ambitious project for the tomb of Pope Julius II, but that was interrupted when he asked Michelangelo to switch from sculpting to painting to decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
There, he was exposed to
the technique of
'FRESCO'.
In his youth, Michelangelo had taunted a fellow student, and received a blow on the nose that disfigured him for life. Over the years, he suffered increasing infirmities from the rigors of his work; in one of his poems, he documented the tremendous physical strain that he endured by painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Political strife in his beloved Florence also gnawed at him, but his most notable enmity was with fellow Florentine artist Leonardo da Vinci, who was more than 20 years his senior.
Although he never married,
Michelangelo was devoted
to a pious and noble widow
named Vittoria Colonna,
the subject and recipient of
many of his more than 300
poems and sonnets. Their
friendship remained a great
solace to Michelangelo until
Colonna's death in 1547.
Domenico Ghirlandaio was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. particular talent was his ability to depict contemporary life and portraits of contemporary people within the context of religious narratives.
Michelangelo to fled to Bologna when Lorenzo the Magnificent died, and returned to Florence in 1495 to begin work as a sculptor, modeling his style after masterpieces of classical antiquity.
Michelangelo unveiled the soaring "Last Judgment" on the far wall of the Sistine Chapel in 1541. There
was an immediate outcry—
that the nude figures
were inappropriate for so holy a
place, and a letter called for the
destruction of the Renaissance's largest
fresco. The painter retaliated by inserting
into the work new portrayals: Of his chief
critic as a devil and himself as
the flayed St. Bartholomew.
A Cardinal named Riario
of San Giorgio, who is
duped by a work of
Michelangelo,
invited the artist to
Rome, where he would
live and work for
the rest of his life.
Michelangelo had a contentious personality and quick temper, which led to fractious relationships, often with his superiors. This not only got Michelangelo into trouble, it created a pervasive dissatisfaction for the painter, who constantly strived for perfection but was unable to compromise.
Michelangelo continued to work on the tomb of Julius II for the next several decades. He also designed the Medici Chapel and the Laurentian Library—located opposite the Basilica San Lorenzo in Florence—to house the Medici book collection. These buildings are considered a turning point in architectural history. But Michelangelo's crowning glory in this field came when he was made chief architect of St. Peter's Basilica in 1546.
Cupid
by
Michelangelo
He was less interested in
schooling than watching painters
in churches and he redraws the
things that he
saw there.