Biography Category
Name :
Michelangelo Buonarotti
Date :
Views :
419
Category :
Birth Date :
06/03/2026
Birth Place :
Caprese.
Death Date :
1564,February 18
Not Available
• Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475 in the little town of
• Caprese, not far from Florence. His father, Ludovico
• Buonarroti was serving a six-month term as podesta, or
• resident magistrate. The mayor of the obscure commune of
• Caprese made an entry in his notebook, "This day a male child
• was born to me. I give him the name of Michelangelo". This
• simple announcement was made at the birth of a genius. When
• Michelangelo was only a few weeks old, his father’s term of
• office expired and the family returned to Florence. He was
• placed in the care of a marble-worker’s wife at Settignano.
• Michelangelo’s mother, Francesca de Neri died when he was
• six. In 1485, his father married again.
•
• Little Michelangelo haunted Florence. He minutely observed
• the paintings that filled the ancient pieces of beauty. Many
• of the buildings and works of art, which are still attracting
• visitors were standing tall in Florence at the time of
• Michelangelo. Those places happened to be his school where he
• got all his needed education.
•
• When old enough to go to school, Michelangelo was sent to
• school but by no means he became a dedicated student. He
• never concentrated in studies, instead all he did during
• those years was drawing in the workshops of the various
• painters .By the time he was 13 the thought of being an
• artist had imbibed him thoroughly. Though artists were
• honored in Florence, his decision had brought worries to his
• father. There were many artists in Florence but they were all
• rich in terms of art and not in wealth.
•
• Ludovico made acquaintance with Francesco Granacci, who was
• working with the famous Ghirlandaio brothers. Michelangelo
• finally got apprenticed to two artists– Domenico and David
• Ghirlandaio, on April 1, 1488, for three years. Domenico
• Ghirlandaio was the head of the studio in which Michelangelo
• started his work. He was one of the most famous painters in
• Florence.
•
• Earlier, Ludovico, Michelangelo’s father, had argued with him
• about taking up the profession, least aware of what the
• future had in store for his son who was to be one of the most
• illustrious artists of all time. He tried to dissuade
• Michelangelo by saying that they were descendants of the
• Counts of Canossa and it would be unbecoming of their
• nobility to engage in such a profession. However,later
• Michelangelo’s decision made him the benefactor of the entire
• family. He earned better than any other of his four brothers.
•
• It is of interest that Ludovico was not a wealthy man, but
• the Buonarotti or Buonarroti-Simoni, as they liked to call
• themselves, were proud of their lineage. Luckily for the
• world of art, Michelangelo stuck to his decision and his
• father had to relent. The Buonarotti pride ran in his blood
• and the passionate sculptor in him carved out success and
• took his fame to greater heights. He sucked in this passion,
• as he used to say, with his foster-mother’s milk in the
• marble quarries of Settignano.
• In 1489, he went to the ‘School of Sculpture’ in the Medici
• Gardens. Here, Lorenzo de Medici, the ruler of Florence,
• allowed young sculptors to study his collection of antique
• sculptures under the tutorship of Bertoldo Di Giovanni.
• Michelangelo studied Greek and Roman marbles, making among
• other copies, a marble head of an old Faun (now lost). It was
• his first attempt at sculpture, but the copy was extremely
• good and it attracted Lorenzo’s attention.
•
• Lorenzo realized soon that Michelangelo had immense talent
• and sent for Michelangelo’s father. He persuaded Ludovico to
• agree to Michelangelo’s living in the Medici Palace and
• continuing his studies under Bertoldo’s eye. To Ludovico, he
• offered any official position. The next three years were
• probably in many ways, the happiest in Michelangelo’s long
• life. The members of the Medici circle inspired in
• Michelangelo a love of literature. They also taught him the
• ideas of neo-Platonism – a philosophy that regards the body
• as a trap for the soul that longs to return to God. Scholars
• interpret many of Michelangelo’s works in terms of these
• ideas. It is seen in his human figures that appear to break
• free from the stone that imprisons them. Michelangelo also
• listened to the conversations of Marsilio Ficino, Pico della
• Mirandola and other humanists. Their influence was profound
• and he remained a Christian Platonist to the end of his days.
•
• In the spring of 1492, Lorenzo died. His son, Piero de Medici
• inherited the position. Piero invited Michelangelo to remain
• as a guest in the palace but gave him no serious commissions.
• Michelangelo returned home. War was drawing close and the
• French army marched toward Florence. It became evident that
• disaster was imminent. In October 1494, Michelangelo fled and
• six weeks later the French entered Florence. The Medici were
• expelled and for the next four years (1494-98), Savonarola a
• preacher and religious reformer, governed the town. Florence
• was under the sway of Girolamo Savonarola who had managed to
• turn the city into a virtual theocracy. Michelangelo, too,
• had heard his sermons and admired them. In a frenzy of
• reform, the city gave up its luxurious, self-indulgent
• lifestyle, even consigning books and works of art to the
• famous ‘bonfire of the vanities’. Michelangelo told his
• biographer, Ascanio Condivi, years later that he still
• retained the memory of the Friar’s voice. Florence under
• Savonarola was not a conducive atmosphere for artists;
• especially those closely associated with the exiled Medici.
•
• After a year in Bologna, Michelangelo returned to Florence.
• He carved a St. John for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici,
• a cousin of Lorenzo de Medici. This St. John is lost, and so
• are three other early works : a marble Hercules, a wooden
• Christ on a cross and a Sleeping Cupid. The Sleeping Cupid
• was sold by a dealer to the cardinal Raffaello Riario di San
• Giorgio, as a genuine antique. When the fraud was discovered,
• the cardinal could not but help admire Michelangelo’s skill.
•
• In June 1496, Michelangelo went to Rome in the fond hope of
• finding a patron in the cardinal of San Giorgio. But Jacopo
• Galli, another collector of antique sculpture, commissioned
• him to make a life-size marble statue of a standing Cupid
• (now lost). Jacopo Galli’s next commission was for Bacchus
• and later, a Pieta for the French cardinal Jean de Villiers
• de La Groslaye. It is the only sculpture that Michelangelo
• signed with his name. In spite of his great achievements, he
• received no further commissions in Rome, and in the spring of
• 1501 returned to Florence.
•
• On his return Michelangelo found that many changes had taken
• place – there was a democratic regime. A few months later,
• Pietro Soderini, an admirer of his was elected the head of
• the Siginoria. Soon the artist was entrusted with more
• commissions than he would deal with. On August 6, 1501, he
• made a contract for a gigantic marble David and before he had
• finished it, a bronze David was commissioned. Before this
• second statue was cast, he had signed another contract for
• the 12 marble statues of the apostles for the Cathedral. At
• the same time he worked on a commission he had accepted from
• Cardinal Francesco Piccolamini for 15 marble statues.
• When the great statue of David was completed, the question of
• its placement arose. A meeting of the chief artists in
• Florence was called to discuss the matter. After much
• deliberation, Michelangelo decided that his David should
• replace Donatello’s Judith, which stood in the Piazza
• Signoria. David was placed outside the main entrance to the
• Pallazzo Vecchio. The statue was the pride of all Florence.
• For years, the events were dated by it and people remembered
• events by the date of the erection of the statue.
•
• While working on the David, Michelangelo neglected the
• commission for the 15 figures for the Siena Cathedral and at
• last, finished only four. Of the 12 apostles for the Florence
• Cathedral, Michelangelo began only one, the unfinished St.
• Mathew.
•
• Between 1503 and 1505, Michelangelo executed three tondi
• (circular representations) of the Madonna. While Michelangelo
• was working on the tondi, Leonardo-da-Vinci was designing a
• painting for the east wall in the Sala del Gran Consiglio. A
• few months later, Pietro Soderini procured for Michelangelo
• the commission to execute a companion painting. Michelangelo
• designed the cartoon between 1504 and 1506, but neither
• artist ever executed the work in Fresco.
•
• In August 1503, Pope Alexander VI died and was succeeded by
• Pope Pious III who too, passed away soon. Cardinal Vincula
• became Pope Julius II – a Pope who was to play a very
• important role in the life of Michelangelo. Pope Julius II
• took a passionate interest in art and architecture. He was
• determined to be served by the finest artists of his day.
• Michelangelo, at the age of 30, was the most famous artist in
• Italy. He was working on the cartoon for the council chamber
• and a number of other contracts. But when the Pope commanded,
• everyone else had to give way. In 1850, Michelangelo left the
• Pisa cartoon as it was rode away to Rome for the second time.
•
• The latter part of the winter (1532-33), and the following
• spring, Michelangelo spent in Rome. He formed a life-long
• friendship with Tommaso de Cavalieri, to whom he dedicated
• many poems and drawing. Michelangelo decided to settle in
• Rome. In June 1533, he returned for four months to Florence
• and made arrangements with his assistants to finish the
• Medici Chapel and the Laurentian library.
•
• In November 1533, Michelangelo went once more to Rome to work
• on the Julius monument, but Pope Clement insisted that he
• complete the decoration of the Sistine Chapel. Clement wanted
• him to paint the wall above the back of the altar - the
• subject chosen was the Last Judgment. The artist moved to
• Rome. He was 60 years old and had another 30 years to live,
• but he never saw Florence again.
•
• On September 25, 1534, Pope Clement VII died, to be succeeded
• by Pope Paul III. The actual work of the painting of the Last
• Judgment began in 1536. It was unveiled on November 1, 1543 –
• almost 30 years after the unveiling of the ceiling Frescoes.
• The painting had an enormous influence on artists of the
• period but also aroused the hostility of theologians and men
• of letters. During this time – known as Michelangelo’s
• religious period – he came into contact with the widow
• Vittoria Colonna, Marchesa of Pescara. Michelangelo met her
• when he was 63, became her friend, and dedicated to her many
• poems and religious drawings.
•
• In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed by Pope Paul III to
• complete the Palarro Farnese – the building left incomplete
• by Antonio da Sangallo. Michelangelo also succeeded Sangallo
• as the chief architect of St. Peter’s.
•
• In Michelangelo there was an eternal dissatisfaction – as
• there is in every artist – and that drained his body into
• that of an aged, eccentric man, sleepless, ill; the man whose
• restlessness sent him out before his death to wander in the
• pouring rain.
•
• On February 12, 1564, Danielle da Volterra watched his master
• all day working on a Pieta. Two days later, Michelangelo fell
• ill and wandered around in the open air. After two days in
• bed, he
•
• died on February 18, 1564, in the presence of a number of
• friends and doctors. His body was taken to Florence, to be
• buried, by his nephew and heir Leonardo Buonarroti. The
• kingdom of arts had suffered the loss of one genius.
• Pope Julius II entrusted to Michelangelo the task of
• executing his tomb. Michelangelo worked on the design of the
• tomb and got the Pope’s approval. In April, he left for the
• quarries of Carrara in order to superintend the breaking and
• shipping of the marble blocks. The first of these blocks
• arrived in Rome in January 1506. But soon, Michelangelo felt
• that the Pope’s interest in the tomb was waning.
• Michelangelo, possessed of an artist’s temperament, felt that
• undue attention was being given to Bramante and his plan for
• rebuilding St. Peter’s in which the tomb was to be placed. As
• a result, there occurred one of the most famous quarrels in
• history of arts. It is reported that Michelangelo wrote to
• the Pope "If you require me in future, you can seek me
• elsewhere than in Rome."
•
• On April 17, 1506, the day before the Pope laid the
• foundation stone of the new church; Michelangelo fled on
• horseback from Rome to Florence. During this time, the Pope
• was engaged in a military campaign against Bologna, which
• ended in triumph on November 10, 1506. As soon as the
• campaign ended, he summoned Michelangelo to join him there.
• On reaching Bologna, Michelangelo was taken into the presence
• of the Pope. On seeing the Pope, he knelt down. "So instead
• of coming to us, you have waited till we came to seek you,"
• exclaimed Julius. Michelangelo was granted his pardon. He was
• ordered to make a bronze portrait of the Pope and so
• Michelangelo had no alternative but to start. The statue was
• completed at last early in the new year.
•
• On February 21, 1508, the titanic bronze statue was placed
• over the central door of the Cathedral of St. Petronio, and
• Michelangelo, finally, was free to return to Florence. Three
• years later the
•
• statue that had caused its creator so much labor, anxiety,
• disappointment and discomfort was thrown down from its perch
• by the victorious Bentivogli family when they regained power
• in Bologna. Nothing remains of this great statue.
• Early in March 1508, Michelangelo was back in Florence where
• he rented a workshop. A few weeks later, he was again ordered
• back to Rome by Julius II. The new project that the Pope
• envisioned was for Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the
• Sistine Chapel – the Pope’s private Chapel. Three hundred
• figures were to be painted as against the 12 of the original
• project. Michelangelo protested at first that he was not a
• painter but a sculptor. The Pope would not accept a refusal.
• He had made up his mind and nothing could change it. Despite
• certain interruptions, Michelangelo worked at the ceiling,
• until it was finished and finally unveiled on October 31,
• 1512.
•
• In February 1513, Pope Julius II passed away. He had left the
• papacy much stronger than it had ever been. A month later,
• Giovanni de Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent’s second son was
• elected Pope and took the name of Leo X. The election of a
• Medici to the papacy silenced all opposition to the family in
• Florence. For the following two or three years Michelangelo
• worked at the tomb of Julius II. It was during this time that
• he produced Moses.
• Pope Leo X employed Michelangelo as an architect.
• Michelangelo designed for him the front of a small Chapel in
• Castle Sant Angelo in Rome (1514). In 1516, Michelangelo
• returned to Florence and worked on two commissions intended
• to bring honor to the Medici. For the façade of the church of
• San Lorenzo, he made several designs and models but these
• magnificent plans were never carried out.
•
• In 1523, Cardinal Giulio de Medici became the Pope, taking
• the name of Clement VII. 1520 onwards, Michelangelo made
• designs for the completion of the Medici Chapel. Pope Clement
• VII wanted Michelangelo to add a library to the cloisters of
• San Lorenzo. Clement, who admired Michelangelo, arranged for
• a pension to be paid to him and also a rent. Besides, free
• house near the church of San Lorenzo. This was done to enable
• him to be near his work. The ongoing war between the Pope and
• the emperor reached a climax while Michelangelo was still
• laboring on the Medici tombs and Julius monument.
•
• In 1527, Rome was occupied and sacked by the imperial tombs
• and the Pope was besieged in Castle Sant Angelo. The emperor
• and Pope soon reconciled and agreed to restore the rule of
• the Medici in Rome. In 1529, Michelangelo was employed as a
• military engineer to fortify Florence against the expected
• attacks. He went on diplomatic missions to Ferrara and Venice
• and negotiated pessimistically for a future residence in
• France. He was declared a traitor and threatened with
• confiscation of his property. On August 12, 1530, Florence
• capitulated and the imperial troops entered the city, which
• was handed over to the Pope. Michelangelo went into hiding,
• but at the intervention of Valori, was promised immunity by
• Pope Clement. The Pope agreed to help him only on the
• condition that he resumed work on the Medici Chapel.
• Michelangelo made the first designs in February 1526 and the
• work was completed in the winter of 1532-33.
•
• Caprese, not far from Florence. His father, Ludovico
• Buonarroti was serving a six-month term as podesta, or
• resident magistrate. The mayor of the obscure commune of
• Caprese made an entry in his notebook, "This day a male child
• was born to me. I give him the name of Michelangelo". This
• simple announcement was made at the birth of a genius. When
• Michelangelo was only a few weeks old, his father’s term of
• office expired and the family returned to Florence. He was
• placed in the care of a marble-worker’s wife at Settignano.
• Michelangelo’s mother, Francesca de Neri died when he was
• six. In 1485, his father married again.
•
• Little Michelangelo haunted Florence. He minutely observed
• the paintings that filled the ancient pieces of beauty. Many
• of the buildings and works of art, which are still attracting
• visitors were standing tall in Florence at the time of
• Michelangelo. Those places happened to be his school where he
• got all his needed education.
•
• When old enough to go to school, Michelangelo was sent to
• school but by no means he became a dedicated student. He
• never concentrated in studies, instead all he did during
• those years was drawing in the workshops of the various
• painters .By the time he was 13 the thought of being an
• artist had imbibed him thoroughly. Though artists were
• honored in Florence, his decision had brought worries to his
• father. There were many artists in Florence but they were all
• rich in terms of art and not in wealth.
•
• Ludovico made acquaintance with Francesco Granacci, who was
• working with the famous Ghirlandaio brothers. Michelangelo
• finally got apprenticed to two artists– Domenico and David
• Ghirlandaio, on April 1, 1488, for three years. Domenico
• Ghirlandaio was the head of the studio in which Michelangelo
• started his work. He was one of the most famous painters in
• Florence.
•
• Earlier, Ludovico, Michelangelo’s father, had argued with him
• about taking up the profession, least aware of what the
• future had in store for his son who was to be one of the most
• illustrious artists of all time. He tried to dissuade
• Michelangelo by saying that they were descendants of the
• Counts of Canossa and it would be unbecoming of their
• nobility to engage in such a profession. However,later
• Michelangelo’s decision made him the benefactor of the entire
• family. He earned better than any other of his four brothers.
•
• It is of interest that Ludovico was not a wealthy man, but
• the Buonarotti or Buonarroti-Simoni, as they liked to call
• themselves, were proud of their lineage. Luckily for the
• world of art, Michelangelo stuck to his decision and his
• father had to relent. The Buonarotti pride ran in his blood
• and the passionate sculptor in him carved out success and
• took his fame to greater heights. He sucked in this passion,
• as he used to say, with his foster-mother’s milk in the
• marble quarries of Settignano.
• In 1489, he went to the ‘School of Sculpture’ in the Medici
• Gardens. Here, Lorenzo de Medici, the ruler of Florence,
• allowed young sculptors to study his collection of antique
• sculptures under the tutorship of Bertoldo Di Giovanni.
• Michelangelo studied Greek and Roman marbles, making among
• other copies, a marble head of an old Faun (now lost). It was
• his first attempt at sculpture, but the copy was extremely
• good and it attracted Lorenzo’s attention.
•
• Lorenzo realized soon that Michelangelo had immense talent
• and sent for Michelangelo’s father. He persuaded Ludovico to
• agree to Michelangelo’s living in the Medici Palace and
• continuing his studies under Bertoldo’s eye. To Ludovico, he
• offered any official position. The next three years were
• probably in many ways, the happiest in Michelangelo’s long
• life. The members of the Medici circle inspired in
• Michelangelo a love of literature. They also taught him the
• ideas of neo-Platonism – a philosophy that regards the body
• as a trap for the soul that longs to return to God. Scholars
• interpret many of Michelangelo’s works in terms of these
• ideas. It is seen in his human figures that appear to break
• free from the stone that imprisons them. Michelangelo also
• listened to the conversations of Marsilio Ficino, Pico della
• Mirandola and other humanists. Their influence was profound
• and he remained a Christian Platonist to the end of his days.
•
• In the spring of 1492, Lorenzo died. His son, Piero de Medici
• inherited the position. Piero invited Michelangelo to remain
• as a guest in the palace but gave him no serious commissions.
• Michelangelo returned home. War was drawing close and the
• French army marched toward Florence. It became evident that
• disaster was imminent. In October 1494, Michelangelo fled and
• six weeks later the French entered Florence. The Medici were
• expelled and for the next four years (1494-98), Savonarola a
• preacher and religious reformer, governed the town. Florence
• was under the sway of Girolamo Savonarola who had managed to
• turn the city into a virtual theocracy. Michelangelo, too,
• had heard his sermons and admired them. In a frenzy of
• reform, the city gave up its luxurious, self-indulgent
• lifestyle, even consigning books and works of art to the
• famous ‘bonfire of the vanities’. Michelangelo told his
• biographer, Ascanio Condivi, years later that he still
• retained the memory of the Friar’s voice. Florence under
• Savonarola was not a conducive atmosphere for artists;
• especially those closely associated with the exiled Medici.
•
• After a year in Bologna, Michelangelo returned to Florence.
• He carved a St. John for Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de Medici,
• a cousin of Lorenzo de Medici. This St. John is lost, and so
• are three other early works : a marble Hercules, a wooden
• Christ on a cross and a Sleeping Cupid. The Sleeping Cupid
• was sold by a dealer to the cardinal Raffaello Riario di San
• Giorgio, as a genuine antique. When the fraud was discovered,
• the cardinal could not but help admire Michelangelo’s skill.
•
• In June 1496, Michelangelo went to Rome in the fond hope of
• finding a patron in the cardinal of San Giorgio. But Jacopo
• Galli, another collector of antique sculpture, commissioned
• him to make a life-size marble statue of a standing Cupid
• (now lost). Jacopo Galli’s next commission was for Bacchus
• and later, a Pieta for the French cardinal Jean de Villiers
• de La Groslaye. It is the only sculpture that Michelangelo
• signed with his name. In spite of his great achievements, he
• received no further commissions in Rome, and in the spring of
• 1501 returned to Florence.
•
• On his return Michelangelo found that many changes had taken
• place – there was a democratic regime. A few months later,
• Pietro Soderini, an admirer of his was elected the head of
• the Siginoria. Soon the artist was entrusted with more
• commissions than he would deal with. On August 6, 1501, he
• made a contract for a gigantic marble David and before he had
• finished it, a bronze David was commissioned. Before this
• second statue was cast, he had signed another contract for
• the 12 marble statues of the apostles for the Cathedral. At
• the same time he worked on a commission he had accepted from
• Cardinal Francesco Piccolamini for 15 marble statues.
• When the great statue of David was completed, the question of
• its placement arose. A meeting of the chief artists in
• Florence was called to discuss the matter. After much
• deliberation, Michelangelo decided that his David should
• replace Donatello’s Judith, which stood in the Piazza
• Signoria. David was placed outside the main entrance to the
• Pallazzo Vecchio. The statue was the pride of all Florence.
• For years, the events were dated by it and people remembered
• events by the date of the erection of the statue.
•
• While working on the David, Michelangelo neglected the
• commission for the 15 figures for the Siena Cathedral and at
• last, finished only four. Of the 12 apostles for the Florence
• Cathedral, Michelangelo began only one, the unfinished St.
• Mathew.
•
• Between 1503 and 1505, Michelangelo executed three tondi
• (circular representations) of the Madonna. While Michelangelo
• was working on the tondi, Leonardo-da-Vinci was designing a
• painting for the east wall in the Sala del Gran Consiglio. A
• few months later, Pietro Soderini procured for Michelangelo
• the commission to execute a companion painting. Michelangelo
• designed the cartoon between 1504 and 1506, but neither
• artist ever executed the work in Fresco.
•
• In August 1503, Pope Alexander VI died and was succeeded by
• Pope Pious III who too, passed away soon. Cardinal Vincula
• became Pope Julius II – a Pope who was to play a very
• important role in the life of Michelangelo. Pope Julius II
• took a passionate interest in art and architecture. He was
• determined to be served by the finest artists of his day.
• Michelangelo, at the age of 30, was the most famous artist in
• Italy. He was working on the cartoon for the council chamber
• and a number of other contracts. But when the Pope commanded,
• everyone else had to give way. In 1850, Michelangelo left the
• Pisa cartoon as it was rode away to Rome for the second time.
•
• The latter part of the winter (1532-33), and the following
• spring, Michelangelo spent in Rome. He formed a life-long
• friendship with Tommaso de Cavalieri, to whom he dedicated
• many poems and drawing. Michelangelo decided to settle in
• Rome. In June 1533, he returned for four months to Florence
• and made arrangements with his assistants to finish the
• Medici Chapel and the Laurentian library.
•
• In November 1533, Michelangelo went once more to Rome to work
• on the Julius monument, but Pope Clement insisted that he
• complete the decoration of the Sistine Chapel. Clement wanted
• him to paint the wall above the back of the altar - the
• subject chosen was the Last Judgment. The artist moved to
• Rome. He was 60 years old and had another 30 years to live,
• but he never saw Florence again.
•
• On September 25, 1534, Pope Clement VII died, to be succeeded
• by Pope Paul III. The actual work of the painting of the Last
• Judgment began in 1536. It was unveiled on November 1, 1543 –
• almost 30 years after the unveiling of the ceiling Frescoes.
• The painting had an enormous influence on artists of the
• period but also aroused the hostility of theologians and men
• of letters. During this time – known as Michelangelo’s
• religious period – he came into contact with the widow
• Vittoria Colonna, Marchesa of Pescara. Michelangelo met her
• when he was 63, became her friend, and dedicated to her many
• poems and religious drawings.
•
• In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed by Pope Paul III to
• complete the Palarro Farnese – the building left incomplete
• by Antonio da Sangallo. Michelangelo also succeeded Sangallo
• as the chief architect of St. Peter’s.
•
• In Michelangelo there was an eternal dissatisfaction – as
• there is in every artist – and that drained his body into
• that of an aged, eccentric man, sleepless, ill; the man whose
• restlessness sent him out before his death to wander in the
• pouring rain.
•
• On February 12, 1564, Danielle da Volterra watched his master
• all day working on a Pieta. Two days later, Michelangelo fell
• ill and wandered around in the open air. After two days in
• bed, he
•
• died on February 18, 1564, in the presence of a number of
• friends and doctors. His body was taken to Florence, to be
• buried, by his nephew and heir Leonardo Buonarroti. The
• kingdom of arts had suffered the loss of one genius.
• Pope Julius II entrusted to Michelangelo the task of
• executing his tomb. Michelangelo worked on the design of the
• tomb and got the Pope’s approval. In April, he left for the
• quarries of Carrara in order to superintend the breaking and
• shipping of the marble blocks. The first of these blocks
• arrived in Rome in January 1506. But soon, Michelangelo felt
• that the Pope’s interest in the tomb was waning.
• Michelangelo, possessed of an artist’s temperament, felt that
• undue attention was being given to Bramante and his plan for
• rebuilding St. Peter’s in which the tomb was to be placed. As
• a result, there occurred one of the most famous quarrels in
• history of arts. It is reported that Michelangelo wrote to
• the Pope "If you require me in future, you can seek me
• elsewhere than in Rome."
•
• On April 17, 1506, the day before the Pope laid the
• foundation stone of the new church; Michelangelo fled on
• horseback from Rome to Florence. During this time, the Pope
• was engaged in a military campaign against Bologna, which
• ended in triumph on November 10, 1506. As soon as the
• campaign ended, he summoned Michelangelo to join him there.
• On reaching Bologna, Michelangelo was taken into the presence
• of the Pope. On seeing the Pope, he knelt down. "So instead
• of coming to us, you have waited till we came to seek you,"
• exclaimed Julius. Michelangelo was granted his pardon. He was
• ordered to make a bronze portrait of the Pope and so
• Michelangelo had no alternative but to start. The statue was
• completed at last early in the new year.
•
• On February 21, 1508, the titanic bronze statue was placed
• over the central door of the Cathedral of St. Petronio, and
• Michelangelo, finally, was free to return to Florence. Three
• years later the
•
• statue that had caused its creator so much labor, anxiety,
• disappointment and discomfort was thrown down from its perch
• by the victorious Bentivogli family when they regained power
• in Bologna. Nothing remains of this great statue.
• Early in March 1508, Michelangelo was back in Florence where
• he rented a workshop. A few weeks later, he was again ordered
• back to Rome by Julius II. The new project that the Pope
• envisioned was for Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the
• Sistine Chapel – the Pope’s private Chapel. Three hundred
• figures were to be painted as against the 12 of the original
• project. Michelangelo protested at first that he was not a
• painter but a sculptor. The Pope would not accept a refusal.
• He had made up his mind and nothing could change it. Despite
• certain interruptions, Michelangelo worked at the ceiling,
• until it was finished and finally unveiled on October 31,
• 1512.
•
• In February 1513, Pope Julius II passed away. He had left the
• papacy much stronger than it had ever been. A month later,
• Giovanni de Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent’s second son was
• elected Pope and took the name of Leo X. The election of a
• Medici to the papacy silenced all opposition to the family in
• Florence. For the following two or three years Michelangelo
• worked at the tomb of Julius II. It was during this time that
• he produced Moses.
• Pope Leo X employed Michelangelo as an architect.
• Michelangelo designed for him the front of a small Chapel in
• Castle Sant Angelo in Rome (1514). In 1516, Michelangelo
• returned to Florence and worked on two commissions intended
• to bring honor to the Medici. For the façade of the church of
• San Lorenzo, he made several designs and models but these
• magnificent plans were never carried out.
•
• In 1523, Cardinal Giulio de Medici became the Pope, taking
• the name of Clement VII. 1520 onwards, Michelangelo made
• designs for the completion of the Medici Chapel. Pope Clement
• VII wanted Michelangelo to add a library to the cloisters of
• San Lorenzo. Clement, who admired Michelangelo, arranged for
• a pension to be paid to him and also a rent. Besides, free
• house near the church of San Lorenzo. This was done to enable
• him to be near his work. The ongoing war between the Pope and
• the emperor reached a climax while Michelangelo was still
• laboring on the Medici tombs and Julius monument.
•
• In 1527, Rome was occupied and sacked by the imperial tombs
• and the Pope was besieged in Castle Sant Angelo. The emperor
• and Pope soon reconciled and agreed to restore the rule of
• the Medici in Rome. In 1529, Michelangelo was employed as a
• military engineer to fortify Florence against the expected
• attacks. He went on diplomatic missions to Ferrara and Venice
• and negotiated pessimistically for a future residence in
• France. He was declared a traitor and threatened with
• confiscation of his property. On August 12, 1530, Florence
• capitulated and the imperial troops entered the city, which
• was handed over to the Pope. Michelangelo went into hiding,
• but at the intervention of Valori, was promised immunity by
• Pope Clement. The Pope agreed to help him only on the
• condition that he resumed work on the Medici Chapel.
• Michelangelo made the first designs in February 1526 and the
• work was completed in the winter of 1532-33.
•
• Michelangelo Buonarroti [ 1475 – 1564 ]
•
• "It has been said that Michelangelo Buonarotti nailed some
• poor man to a board and pierced his heart with a spear, so as
• to paint a crucifixion." Francesco Susinno here repeats an
• early urban legend about one of the greatest artists of the
• Italian Renaissance.
•
• Michelangelo Ludovico Buonarroti-Simoni – sculptor, painter,
• architect and poet was considered the greatest living artist
• in his lifetime. His practice of several arts, however, was
• not unusual in his time. Few artists have been as prolific;
• fewer still have succeeded in creating enduring masterpieces
• in so many mediums. He would have guaranteed his place in
• history if he had produced only the David, or painted the
• ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or erected St. Peter’s. Rather,
• he made all three, and each is an ultimate achievement in the
• history of human endeavor.
•
• "It has been said that Michelangelo Buonarotti nailed some
• poor man to a board and pierced his heart with a spear, so as
• to paint a crucifixion." Francesco Susinno here repeats an
• early urban legend about one of the greatest artists of the
• Italian Renaissance.
•
• Michelangelo Ludovico Buonarroti-Simoni – sculptor, painter,
• architect and poet was considered the greatest living artist
• in his lifetime. His practice of several arts, however, was
• not unusual in his time. Few artists have been as prolific;
• fewer still have succeeded in creating enduring masterpieces
• in so many mediums. He would have guaranteed his place in
• history if he had produced only the David, or painted the
• ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or erected St. Peter’s. Rather,
• he made all three, and each is an ultimate achievement in the
• history of human endeavor.
• 1475
• March 6, born in Caprese.
•
• 1488
• Michelangelo apprenticed in the workshop of Domenico
• Ghirlandaio.
•
• 1494-95
• Michelangelo in Bologna. Carves figures for the tomb of St.
• Dominic.
•
• 1496-1501
• In Rome. Carves the Bacchus and the Rome Pietà.
•
• 1503
• Commission for the 12 apostles, including St. Mathew, for the
• Florentine Cathedral (Duomo).
•
• C. 1503-1505
• Completes the Doni Tondo, Taddei Tondo, Pitti Tondo and the
• Bruges Madonna.
•
• 1504
• Completes the David – Receives commission to paint the Battle
• of Cascina.
•
• 1505-1545
• Michelangelo works on the tomb of Julius II in both Rome and
• Florence, carving Moses,
• the Rebellious and Dying Slaves, Rachel and Leah.
•
• 1507
• In Bologna working on the bronze statue of Julius II.
•
• 1508-1512
• In Rome paints the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (finished
• October 1512).
•
• 1516
• Returns to Florence. Commissioned to erect the facade of the
• Medici Church of San Lorenzo in Florence.
• Signs third contract for the tomb of Pope Julius II.
•
• 1521
• Death of Pope Leo X. Begins work on the tombs for the Medici
• Chapel.
•
• 1527-1530
• The Last Republic in Florence Commission to carve a Hercules
• (never executed). Michelangelo
• designs and builds fortifications.
•
• C. 1530
•
•
• 1516
• Returns to Florence. Commissioned to erect the facade of the
• Medici Church of San Lorenzo in Florence. Signs third
• contract for the tomb of Pope Julius II.
•
• 1521
• Death of Pope Leo X. Begins work on the tombs for the Medici
• Chapel.
•
• 1527-1530
• The Last Republic in Florence Commission to carve a Hercules
• (never executed). Michelangelo designs and builds
• fortifications.
•
• C. 1530
• Carves Apollo / David.
•
• 1534
• Death Pope Clement VII. Election of Alessandro Farnese as
• Pope Paul III. Michelangelo leaves Florence, never to return.
• Medici Madonna and victory left incomplete in Florentine
• workshop. Spends the remaining 30 years of his life in Rome.
•
• 1536
• Begins painting the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel.
• Meets Vittoria Colonna.
•
• 1541
• Last Judgment completed and unveiled.
•
• 1545
• Tomb of Julius II completed and installed in San Pietro in
• Vincoli, Rome.
•
• 1547
• Death of Vittoria Colonna. Begins work on the Florentine
• Pietà for his own tomb (abandoned c. 1555)
•
• 1559-1560
• Designs for San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Rome.
•
• 1561
• Commissions for the Porta Pia and Santa Maria degli Angeli in
• Rome.
•
• 1564
• February 18, dies at home in Macel de Corvi, Rome
• March 6, born in Caprese.
•
• 1488
• Michelangelo apprenticed in the workshop of Domenico
• Ghirlandaio.
•
• 1494-95
• Michelangelo in Bologna. Carves figures for the tomb of St.
• Dominic.
•
• 1496-1501
• In Rome. Carves the Bacchus and the Rome Pietà.
•
• 1503
• Commission for the 12 apostles, including St. Mathew, for the
• Florentine Cathedral (Duomo).
•
• C. 1503-1505
• Completes the Doni Tondo, Taddei Tondo, Pitti Tondo and the
• Bruges Madonna.
•
• 1504
• Completes the David – Receives commission to paint the Battle
• of Cascina.
•
• 1505-1545
• Michelangelo works on the tomb of Julius II in both Rome and
• Florence, carving Moses,
• the Rebellious and Dying Slaves, Rachel and Leah.
•
• 1507
• In Bologna working on the bronze statue of Julius II.
•
• 1508-1512
• In Rome paints the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (finished
• October 1512).
•
• 1516
• Returns to Florence. Commissioned to erect the facade of the
• Medici Church of San Lorenzo in Florence.
• Signs third contract for the tomb of Pope Julius II.
•
• 1521
• Death of Pope Leo X. Begins work on the tombs for the Medici
• Chapel.
•
• 1527-1530
• The Last Republic in Florence Commission to carve a Hercules
• (never executed). Michelangelo
• designs and builds fortifications.
•
• C. 1530
•
•
• 1516
• Returns to Florence. Commissioned to erect the facade of the
• Medici Church of San Lorenzo in Florence. Signs third
• contract for the tomb of Pope Julius II.
•
• 1521
• Death of Pope Leo X. Begins work on the tombs for the Medici
• Chapel.
•
• 1527-1530
• The Last Republic in Florence Commission to carve a Hercules
• (never executed). Michelangelo designs and builds
• fortifications.
•
• C. 1530
• Carves Apollo / David.
•
• 1534
• Death Pope Clement VII. Election of Alessandro Farnese as
• Pope Paul III. Michelangelo leaves Florence, never to return.
• Medici Madonna and victory left incomplete in Florentine
• workshop. Spends the remaining 30 years of his life in Rome.
•
• 1536
• Begins painting the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel.
• Meets Vittoria Colonna.
•
• 1541
• Last Judgment completed and unveiled.
•
• 1545
• Tomb of Julius II completed and installed in San Pietro in
• Vincoli, Rome.
•
• 1547
• Death of Vittoria Colonna. Begins work on the Florentine
• Pietà for his own tomb (abandoned c. 1555)
•
• 1559-1560
• Designs for San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Rome.
•
• 1561
• Commissions for the Porta Pia and Santa Maria degli Angeli in
• Rome.
•
• 1564
• February 18, dies at home in Macel de Corvi, Rome
• After being apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio for a year,
• Michelangelo was taken under the wing of Lorenzo de Medici,
• known as the Magnificent. One of the two marble works that
• survive from the artist’s first years is a variant on the
• composition of an ancient Roman sarcophagus. This composition
• is the Battle of the Centaurs (C. 1492). The power of the
• figures foretell the artist’s latter interests much more than
• does the Madonna of the Stairs (C. 1491), a delicate work
• that reflected the fashion of the Florentine sculptors.
•
• Bacchus
• Michelangelo produced his first large scale sculpture in
• Rome, a larger than life figure of a drunken Bacchus
• (1496-98), the Roman God of wine. This sensual, nude youth is
• one of his few pagan works rather than Christian subject
• matter and was based on ancient Greek and Roman statuary.
• Made for a garden, it is also unique among Michelangelo’s
• works in calling for observation from all sides rather than
• primarily from the front. The statue, in a sense, was a
• condensation of Michelangelo’s unorthodox education to date -
• his immersion in the classics, his imitation and recreation
• of antique sculpture, and his first experience of the eternal
• city.
•
• Pieta
• The Bacchus led at once to the commission for the Pietà
• (1498). He began in an unusual manner, by purchasing a horse
• and going to the marble quarries of Carrara to select the
• block. At 23, he completed this magnificent statue that shows
• the Virgin Mary grieving over the dead Jesus. The
• concentrated group of two is designed to evoke the observer’s
• repentant prayers for sins that required Christ’s sacrificial
• death. The complex problem for the designer was to extract
• two figures from one marble block. Michelangelo treated the
• group as one dense and compact mass so that it has an
• imposing effect; yet he underlined the many contrasts
• present; of male and female, vertical and horizontal, clothed
• and naked, dead and alive, to clarify the two components. The
• Virgin calls our attention to her dead son with her left
• hand, while her right arm embraces him gently, lifting his
• arm slightly so that it hangs lifelessly before us.
•
• Michelangelo returned to the theme of the Pietà late in his
• life, in two of his most personal expressions : the
• Florentine Pietà (C.1547-1555), which he meant to have placed
• on his own tomb, and the Rondanini Pietà (1555-1564), a work
• that remained unfinished when he died.
•
• David
•
• The artist’s prominence, established by his work, was
• reinforced at once by the commission of the David (1501-1504)
• for the cathedral of Florence. For this huge statue (standing
• at 4.34 m / 14 ft 3 tall), Michelangelo reused a block left
• unfinished about 40 years before. The subject of this work is
• the Old Testament story of David and Goliath, in which the
• young David, flings a stone from his slingshot to kill the
• giant Goliath. The statue became a symbol for the new
• republic that had replaced Medici rule. Unlike his
• predecessors, who depicted David with the grisly head of the
• Giant under his foot, Michelangelo poses David at the moment
• he faces the Giant, the deed before him. He believed that
• this was David’s moment of greatest courage. The entire
• sculpture shows tense waiting as David sizes up his enemy and
• considers his course of action. The statue was set up in
• front of the Palazzo della Signoria and it became a symbol of
• the political strength of Florence against the forces of
• tyranny. It has continued to serve as the prime statement of
• the Renaissance ideal of perfect humanity.
•
• With the twin achievements of the Pieta and the David in
• Florence, Michelangelo’s reputation was firmly established.
• Between 1500 and 1508, he sustained an astonishing level of
• productivity. During this period, he carved nine marble
• sculptures, including the colossal David, the Brubes Madonna,
• the St. Matthew, two marble tondi, and four small figures for
• the Piccolamini altar. He also completed three works in
• bronze (all lost), including a bronze David sent to France,
• and a monumental seated figure of Pope Julius for Bologna. He
• completed at least one painting – the Dani Tondo, and drew
• the cartoon for the Battle of Cascind Fresco – the most
• prolific eight years of the artist.
•
• Middle Years
• Shortly after completing the David, Michelangelo received the
• additional commission to paint a battle Fresco opposite his
• rival Leonardo da Vinci. For differing reasons, both artists
• failed to complete their commissions : Leonardo because of
• technical frustrations, and Michelangelo because he was
• summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II in 1505. The Pope employed
• Michelangelo to carve his tomb – so began the longest and
• most convoluted chapter in Michelangelo’s life, what his
• biographer Ascanio Condivi referred to as the "tragedy of the
• tomb" – but also one of his greatest endeavors.
•
• The Tomb of Julius II
• The Pope sought a tomb for which Michelangelo was to carve 40
• large statues. In 1505, he began to work on a tomb for Pope
• Julius II that was to have stood in St. Peter’s Basilica in
• Rome. His earliest designs specify a freestanding structure
• with three levels : at the bottom, figures representing
• victory alternating with slaves, above them, four huge seated
• figures including Moses and St. Paul, and finally, angels
• supporting either a coffin or an image of the Pope. In the
•
• end only three figures by Michelangelo were placed on the
• tomb, which is now in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli,
• Rome. Of these, the most powerful figure is Moses (c. 1515),
• a dynamic example of his ability to infuse stone with a sense
• of movement and life. The muscular torso of Moses twists to
• the left, but his scowling face turns sharply to the right as
• if he has just seen the people worshipping their false God.
• It is regarded as the realization in sculpture of the
• approach to great figures used for the prophets on the
• Sistine Ceiling. (He was called to work on the Sistine Chapel
• and after the ceiling was finished, reverted to work on the
• tomb.) The control of cubic density in stone evokes great
• reserves of strength. The surface textures also have more
• variety than the earlier sculptures. Two of the slave statues
• originally planned for the tomb, the Rebellious Slave and the
• Dying Slave (both c. 1513-1516) were also completed. They
• demonstrate his approach to carving, in which cutting away
• excess stone appears to release an entrapped human figure.
• Here, as in many of his sculptures, Michelangelo left parts
• of the block of stone rough and unfinished, either because he
• was satisfied with the statues as they were or because he no
• longer planned to use them. Julius II’s death in 1513 cut off
• most of the funds for his tomb.
•
• The Sistine Ceiling
•
• The Sistine Chapel had great symbolic meaning for the papacy
• as the chief consecrated space in the Vatican. The new
• commission, though from Julius himself, was a major project
• preventing the completion of the tomb of Julius II.
• Michelangelo was asked to add works for the relatively
• unimportant ceiling. Between 1508 to 1512, he created some of
• the most memorable images of all time on the vaulted ceiling
• of the papal chapel in the Vatican. He had always considered
• himself a sculptor and resisted painting the Sistine at first
• : "I cannot live under pressures from patrons, but alone
• paint". Only the power of Pope Julius II forced him into the
• reluctant achievement of the world’s greatest single Fresco.
• Twelve Apostles were planned as the theme – traces of this
• project are seen in the 12 large figures that Michelangelo
• painted : seven prophets and five sibyls. He placed these
• figures around the edge of the ceiling and filled the central
• spine of the long curved surface with nine scenes from
• genesis, three of them depicting, the creation of the world,
• three the stories of Adam and Eve, and three the stories of
• Noah. These are followed, below the prophets and sibyls, by
• small figures of the 40 generations of Christ’s ancestors,
• starting with Abraham. The vast project was completed in less
• than four years. Bright clear colors enliven and unite the
• vast surface, and make the details more legible from the
• floor of the chapel.
•
• The work began at the end with the Noah scenes placed over
• the entrance door, and moved toward the altar in the
• direction opposite to that of the sequence of the stories.
• The first figures are relatively stable and on a small scale.
• As he proceeded, he quickly grew in confidence. Since he
• started working in an unfamiliar medium, the same growing
• boldness appears in the free, complex movements of the
• figures and in their complex expressiveness. Thus, he worked
• from the quietly monumental scene (after 1510-11) of the
• creation of Adam to the acute, twisted pressures of the
• prophet Jonah. The Creation of Adam is perhaps Michelangelo’s
• finest fusion of form and meaning. We see Adam beginning to
• come to life, as he reaches listlessly toward the vigorous
• energy that the image of God embodies. Following the
• completion of the ceiling in 1512, Michelangelo finally was
• able to turn again to sculpture and to the Julius tomb. He
• later painted The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the
• Sistine Chapel.
•
• The Medici Chapel / Church of San Lorenzo
• Pope Leo X, son of Lorenzo de Medici and successor of Pope
• Julius II had known Michelangelo since childhood. The
• immediate occasion for
•
•
• the Chapel was the deaths of the two young family heirs,
• named Giuliano and Lorenzo. Michelangelo envisioned the San
• Lorenzo Façade as a two – story marble screen supporting as
• many as 40 statues. Michelangelo gave his chief attention
• (upto 1527) to the marble interior of this chapel, to both
• the wall design and the carved figures on the tombs. A male
• and a female figure sit on the curved bases; these are
• allegories symbolizing on one tomb, day and night, and dawn
• and dusk on the other according to the artist’s own
• statement. The figures of Day and Dusk – massive, are
• tranquil in their scape. Both female figures have the tall,
• slim proportions and small feet considered beautiful at the
• time, but otherwise form a contrast. Dawn, a virginal figure,
• strains upward as if trying to emerge into life, Night is
• asleep, but in a posture suggesting stressful dreams.
• Michelangelo conceived of the two tombs as representing
• opposite types : Giuliano symbolized the active, extroverted
• personality, Lorenzo, the contemplative introspective one.
• By 1520, finding for the San Lorenzo facade was discontinued,
• but Michelangelo remained occupied with other projects for
• this church.
•
• In addition to the Chapel, Pope Clement VII wished
• Michelangelo to design a library to house the valuable
• collection of Medici books and manuscripts. The elegant
• Laurentian Library (1524 – 34 designed), adjoining the church
• of San Lorenzo, confirmed Michelangelo’s architectural
• abilities. In this and subsequent architectural projects, he
• combined classical motifs – columns, pediments, niches, and
• brackets – in new ways. In the entrance hall, he invented new
• forms for the capitals of columns and tapered the pilasters
• (flattened pillars attached so walls) downward instead of
• upward. The curving contours of the staircase seem to flow
• downward and outward, giving a sense of checked energy.
•
• In 1534, Michelangelo returned after a quarter century to
• Fresco painting, executing for the new Pope, Paul II the huge
• Last Judgment for the end wall of the Sistine Chapel.
• The Last Judgment (1534)
•
•
• The Last Judgment depicts Christ’s Second Coming to the
• world. The enormous scene is focussed on the impassive figure
• of Christ whose right arm is poised to strike down the
• damned, while the left arm seems gently to call the blessed
• towards him. At his side is Virgin Mary, who looks down
• quietly towards those emerging from their graves. The work in
• a painting style has a pervasive color harmony of brown
• bodies against a blue sky. The scene of hell in the lower
• right corner is based on the Inferno, part of The Divine
• Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The nudity that is shown in this
• Fresco was sharply criticized soon after it was unveiled
• which made it one of the most talked about and most
• frequently copied works of art in the 16th century.
•
• The Last Decades
• In his late years, Michelangelo was less involved with
• sculpture, and along with painting and poetry, more with
• architecture – an area in which he did not have to do
• physical labor. He was sought after to design imposing
• monuments for the new Rome. Two of these monuments, the
• Capitoline Square (Piazza del Campidoglio) and the dome of
• St. Peter’s, are still among the city’s most notable visual
• images. He did not finish either, but after his death, both
• were continued.
•
• Piazza del Campidoglio (Capitoline Square)
• Michelangelo’s designs for the Capitoline Square (begun 1539,
• completed later by others) and its surrounding buildings
• succeeded in restoring this public space to its former side
• as the civic and political heart of Rome. His program for
• remodeling the Campidoglio began with a commission to create
• a new base for an ancient Roman bronze statue of emperor
• Marcus Aurelius on horseback. His plans soon expanded to
• include the addition of a double staircase to the building
• behind the statue, Palazzo Senatorio (completed 1544-1552);
• identical facades for the buildings to the
• sculpture’s right and left, the Palazzo dei Conservatori
• (1563-1584) and the Palazzo Nuovo (1603-1650s). Finally a
• broad ramp-like stairway defines the uphill approach to the
• Piazza. The oval base Michelangelo designed for the statue of
• Marcus Aurelius became the basis for his design of the entire
• space. Perfect symmetry combines with flowing curves,
• traditional Roman forms with inventive new ones, to produce a
• unified and dynamic public space.
• Saint Peter’s Basilica
•
•
• In 1546, Michelangelo was given the task of completing the
• design for St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Pope Julius
• II first gave the commission to Michelangelo’s rival, Donato
• Bramante, in 1506. When Bramante died in 1514, only the
• supports were in place, which determined the scale and other
• elements of design. Michelangelo returned to Bramante’s plan,
• but made it more compact, strengthening the supports and
• unifying the exterior with gigantic pairs of pilasters with
• Corinthian capitals. Around the base of the dome the line of
• the pilasters is echoed by fully rounded columns, which are
• in turn repeated on a smaller scale in the lantern at the top
• of the dome. The effect is one of great mass pushing upward,
• the forms varied in complex ways yet unified as a whole. The
• dome functions chiefly as a visual focus, representing a
• physical goal as well as expressing the dominant meaning of
• the city. It has been copied for this dual purpose many times
• as, for instance, in the Capitol at Washington D.C.
•
• While remaining head architect of St. Peter’s until his
• death, Michelangelo worked on many smaller building projects.
• He completed the main unit of the Palazzo Farnese, the
• residence of Pope Paul III’s family.
•
• His last paintings were the Frescoes of the Conversion of St.
• Paul and the Crucifixion of St. Peter in the Pauline Chapel
• in the Vatican.
•
• There are only two late sculptures, which Michelangelo did
• for himself. Both present the dead Christ, neither finished.
• He completed Rachel and Leah for the tomb of Julius II and
• the bust of Brutus. The Florentine Pietà was destined for his
• own grave, but was given away, and the Rondanini was begun
• for no ostensible reason. His poetry gives expression to the
• theme that love helps human beings in their difficult effort
• to ascend to the divine. Architecture was his final and
• perhaps most influential legacy.
•
• Michelangelo was taken under the wing of Lorenzo de Medici,
• known as the Magnificent. One of the two marble works that
• survive from the artist’s first years is a variant on the
• composition of an ancient Roman sarcophagus. This composition
• is the Battle of the Centaurs (C. 1492). The power of the
• figures foretell the artist’s latter interests much more than
• does the Madonna of the Stairs (C. 1491), a delicate work
• that reflected the fashion of the Florentine sculptors.
•
• Bacchus
• Michelangelo produced his first large scale sculpture in
• Rome, a larger than life figure of a drunken Bacchus
• (1496-98), the Roman God of wine. This sensual, nude youth is
• one of his few pagan works rather than Christian subject
• matter and was based on ancient Greek and Roman statuary.
• Made for a garden, it is also unique among Michelangelo’s
• works in calling for observation from all sides rather than
• primarily from the front. The statue, in a sense, was a
• condensation of Michelangelo’s unorthodox education to date -
• his immersion in the classics, his imitation and recreation
• of antique sculpture, and his first experience of the eternal
• city.
•
• Pieta
• The Bacchus led at once to the commission for the Pietà
• (1498). He began in an unusual manner, by purchasing a horse
• and going to the marble quarries of Carrara to select the
• block. At 23, he completed this magnificent statue that shows
• the Virgin Mary grieving over the dead Jesus. The
• concentrated group of two is designed to evoke the observer’s
• repentant prayers for sins that required Christ’s sacrificial
• death. The complex problem for the designer was to extract
• two figures from one marble block. Michelangelo treated the
• group as one dense and compact mass so that it has an
• imposing effect; yet he underlined the many contrasts
• present; of male and female, vertical and horizontal, clothed
• and naked, dead and alive, to clarify the two components. The
• Virgin calls our attention to her dead son with her left
• hand, while her right arm embraces him gently, lifting his
• arm slightly so that it hangs lifelessly before us.
•
• Michelangelo returned to the theme of the Pietà late in his
• life, in two of his most personal expressions : the
• Florentine Pietà (C.1547-1555), which he meant to have placed
• on his own tomb, and the Rondanini Pietà (1555-1564), a work
• that remained unfinished when he died.
•
• David
•
• The artist’s prominence, established by his work, was
• reinforced at once by the commission of the David (1501-1504)
• for the cathedral of Florence. For this huge statue (standing
• at 4.34 m / 14 ft 3 tall), Michelangelo reused a block left
• unfinished about 40 years before. The subject of this work is
• the Old Testament story of David and Goliath, in which the
• young David, flings a stone from his slingshot to kill the
• giant Goliath. The statue became a symbol for the new
• republic that had replaced Medici rule. Unlike his
• predecessors, who depicted David with the grisly head of the
• Giant under his foot, Michelangelo poses David at the moment
• he faces the Giant, the deed before him. He believed that
• this was David’s moment of greatest courage. The entire
• sculpture shows tense waiting as David sizes up his enemy and
• considers his course of action. The statue was set up in
• front of the Palazzo della Signoria and it became a symbol of
• the political strength of Florence against the forces of
• tyranny. It has continued to serve as the prime statement of
• the Renaissance ideal of perfect humanity.
•
• With the twin achievements of the Pieta and the David in
• Florence, Michelangelo’s reputation was firmly established.
• Between 1500 and 1508, he sustained an astonishing level of
• productivity. During this period, he carved nine marble
• sculptures, including the colossal David, the Brubes Madonna,
• the St. Matthew, two marble tondi, and four small figures for
• the Piccolamini altar. He also completed three works in
• bronze (all lost), including a bronze David sent to France,
• and a monumental seated figure of Pope Julius for Bologna. He
• completed at least one painting – the Dani Tondo, and drew
• the cartoon for the Battle of Cascind Fresco – the most
• prolific eight years of the artist.
•
• Middle Years
• Shortly after completing the David, Michelangelo received the
• additional commission to paint a battle Fresco opposite his
• rival Leonardo da Vinci. For differing reasons, both artists
• failed to complete their commissions : Leonardo because of
• technical frustrations, and Michelangelo because he was
• summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II in 1505. The Pope employed
• Michelangelo to carve his tomb – so began the longest and
• most convoluted chapter in Michelangelo’s life, what his
• biographer Ascanio Condivi referred to as the "tragedy of the
• tomb" – but also one of his greatest endeavors.
•
• The Tomb of Julius II
• The Pope sought a tomb for which Michelangelo was to carve 40
• large statues. In 1505, he began to work on a tomb for Pope
• Julius II that was to have stood in St. Peter’s Basilica in
• Rome. His earliest designs specify a freestanding structure
• with three levels : at the bottom, figures representing
• victory alternating with slaves, above them, four huge seated
• figures including Moses and St. Paul, and finally, angels
• supporting either a coffin or an image of the Pope. In the
•
• end only three figures by Michelangelo were placed on the
• tomb, which is now in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli,
• Rome. Of these, the most powerful figure is Moses (c. 1515),
• a dynamic example of his ability to infuse stone with a sense
• of movement and life. The muscular torso of Moses twists to
• the left, but his scowling face turns sharply to the right as
• if he has just seen the people worshipping their false God.
• It is regarded as the realization in sculpture of the
• approach to great figures used for the prophets on the
• Sistine Ceiling. (He was called to work on the Sistine Chapel
• and after the ceiling was finished, reverted to work on the
• tomb.) The control of cubic density in stone evokes great
• reserves of strength. The surface textures also have more
• variety than the earlier sculptures. Two of the slave statues
• originally planned for the tomb, the Rebellious Slave and the
• Dying Slave (both c. 1513-1516) were also completed. They
• demonstrate his approach to carving, in which cutting away
• excess stone appears to release an entrapped human figure.
• Here, as in many of his sculptures, Michelangelo left parts
• of the block of stone rough and unfinished, either because he
• was satisfied with the statues as they were or because he no
• longer planned to use them. Julius II’s death in 1513 cut off
• most of the funds for his tomb.
•
• The Sistine Ceiling
•
• The Sistine Chapel had great symbolic meaning for the papacy
• as the chief consecrated space in the Vatican. The new
• commission, though from Julius himself, was a major project
• preventing the completion of the tomb of Julius II.
• Michelangelo was asked to add works for the relatively
• unimportant ceiling. Between 1508 to 1512, he created some of
• the most memorable images of all time on the vaulted ceiling
• of the papal chapel in the Vatican. He had always considered
• himself a sculptor and resisted painting the Sistine at first
• : "I cannot live under pressures from patrons, but alone
• paint". Only the power of Pope Julius II forced him into the
• reluctant achievement of the world’s greatest single Fresco.
• Twelve Apostles were planned as the theme – traces of this
• project are seen in the 12 large figures that Michelangelo
• painted : seven prophets and five sibyls. He placed these
• figures around the edge of the ceiling and filled the central
• spine of the long curved surface with nine scenes from
• genesis, three of them depicting, the creation of the world,
• three the stories of Adam and Eve, and three the stories of
• Noah. These are followed, below the prophets and sibyls, by
• small figures of the 40 generations of Christ’s ancestors,
• starting with Abraham. The vast project was completed in less
• than four years. Bright clear colors enliven and unite the
• vast surface, and make the details more legible from the
• floor of the chapel.
•
• The work began at the end with the Noah scenes placed over
• the entrance door, and moved toward the altar in the
• direction opposite to that of the sequence of the stories.
• The first figures are relatively stable and on a small scale.
• As he proceeded, he quickly grew in confidence. Since he
• started working in an unfamiliar medium, the same growing
• boldness appears in the free, complex movements of the
• figures and in their complex expressiveness. Thus, he worked
• from the quietly monumental scene (after 1510-11) of the
• creation of Adam to the acute, twisted pressures of the
• prophet Jonah. The Creation of Adam is perhaps Michelangelo’s
• finest fusion of form and meaning. We see Adam beginning to
• come to life, as he reaches listlessly toward the vigorous
• energy that the image of God embodies. Following the
• completion of the ceiling in 1512, Michelangelo finally was
• able to turn again to sculpture and to the Julius tomb. He
• later painted The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the
• Sistine Chapel.
•
• The Medici Chapel / Church of San Lorenzo
• Pope Leo X, son of Lorenzo de Medici and successor of Pope
• Julius II had known Michelangelo since childhood. The
• immediate occasion for
•
•
• the Chapel was the deaths of the two young family heirs,
• named Giuliano and Lorenzo. Michelangelo envisioned the San
• Lorenzo Façade as a two – story marble screen supporting as
• many as 40 statues. Michelangelo gave his chief attention
• (upto 1527) to the marble interior of this chapel, to both
• the wall design and the carved figures on the tombs. A male
• and a female figure sit on the curved bases; these are
• allegories symbolizing on one tomb, day and night, and dawn
• and dusk on the other according to the artist’s own
• statement. The figures of Day and Dusk – massive, are
• tranquil in their scape. Both female figures have the tall,
• slim proportions and small feet considered beautiful at the
• time, but otherwise form a contrast. Dawn, a virginal figure,
• strains upward as if trying to emerge into life, Night is
• asleep, but in a posture suggesting stressful dreams.
• Michelangelo conceived of the two tombs as representing
• opposite types : Giuliano symbolized the active, extroverted
• personality, Lorenzo, the contemplative introspective one.
• By 1520, finding for the San Lorenzo facade was discontinued,
• but Michelangelo remained occupied with other projects for
• this church.
•
• In addition to the Chapel, Pope Clement VII wished
• Michelangelo to design a library to house the valuable
• collection of Medici books and manuscripts. The elegant
• Laurentian Library (1524 – 34 designed), adjoining the church
• of San Lorenzo, confirmed Michelangelo’s architectural
• abilities. In this and subsequent architectural projects, he
• combined classical motifs – columns, pediments, niches, and
• brackets – in new ways. In the entrance hall, he invented new
• forms for the capitals of columns and tapered the pilasters
• (flattened pillars attached so walls) downward instead of
• upward. The curving contours of the staircase seem to flow
• downward and outward, giving a sense of checked energy.
•
• In 1534, Michelangelo returned after a quarter century to
• Fresco painting, executing for the new Pope, Paul II the huge
• Last Judgment for the end wall of the Sistine Chapel.
• The Last Judgment (1534)
•
•
• The Last Judgment depicts Christ’s Second Coming to the
• world. The enormous scene is focussed on the impassive figure
• of Christ whose right arm is poised to strike down the
• damned, while the left arm seems gently to call the blessed
• towards him. At his side is Virgin Mary, who looks down
• quietly towards those emerging from their graves. The work in
• a painting style has a pervasive color harmony of brown
• bodies against a blue sky. The scene of hell in the lower
• right corner is based on the Inferno, part of The Divine
• Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The nudity that is shown in this
• Fresco was sharply criticized soon after it was unveiled
• which made it one of the most talked about and most
• frequently copied works of art in the 16th century.
•
• The Last Decades
• In his late years, Michelangelo was less involved with
• sculpture, and along with painting and poetry, more with
• architecture – an area in which he did not have to do
• physical labor. He was sought after to design imposing
• monuments for the new Rome. Two of these monuments, the
• Capitoline Square (Piazza del Campidoglio) and the dome of
• St. Peter’s, are still among the city’s most notable visual
• images. He did not finish either, but after his death, both
• were continued.
•
• Piazza del Campidoglio (Capitoline Square)
• Michelangelo’s designs for the Capitoline Square (begun 1539,
• completed later by others) and its surrounding buildings
• succeeded in restoring this public space to its former side
• as the civic and political heart of Rome. His program for
• remodeling the Campidoglio began with a commission to create
• a new base for an ancient Roman bronze statue of emperor
• Marcus Aurelius on horseback. His plans soon expanded to
• include the addition of a double staircase to the building
• behind the statue, Palazzo Senatorio (completed 1544-1552);
• identical facades for the buildings to the
• sculpture’s right and left, the Palazzo dei Conservatori
• (1563-1584) and the Palazzo Nuovo (1603-1650s). Finally a
• broad ramp-like stairway defines the uphill approach to the
• Piazza. The oval base Michelangelo designed for the statue of
• Marcus Aurelius became the basis for his design of the entire
• space. Perfect symmetry combines with flowing curves,
• traditional Roman forms with inventive new ones, to produce a
• unified and dynamic public space.
• Saint Peter’s Basilica
•
•
• In 1546, Michelangelo was given the task of completing the
• design for St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Pope Julius
• II first gave the commission to Michelangelo’s rival, Donato
• Bramante, in 1506. When Bramante died in 1514, only the
• supports were in place, which determined the scale and other
• elements of design. Michelangelo returned to Bramante’s plan,
• but made it more compact, strengthening the supports and
• unifying the exterior with gigantic pairs of pilasters with
• Corinthian capitals. Around the base of the dome the line of
• the pilasters is echoed by fully rounded columns, which are
• in turn repeated on a smaller scale in the lantern at the top
• of the dome. The effect is one of great mass pushing upward,
• the forms varied in complex ways yet unified as a whole. The
• dome functions chiefly as a visual focus, representing a
• physical goal as well as expressing the dominant meaning of
• the city. It has been copied for this dual purpose many times
• as, for instance, in the Capitol at Washington D.C.
•
• While remaining head architect of St. Peter’s until his
• death, Michelangelo worked on many smaller building projects.
• He completed the main unit of the Palazzo Farnese, the
• residence of Pope Paul III’s family.
•
• His last paintings were the Frescoes of the Conversion of St.
• Paul and the Crucifixion of St. Peter in the Pauline Chapel
• in the Vatican.
•
• There are only two late sculptures, which Michelangelo did
• for himself. Both present the dead Christ, neither finished.
• He completed Rachel and Leah for the tomb of Julius II and
• the bust of Brutus. The Florentine Pietà was destined for his
• own grave, but was given away, and the Rondanini was begun
• for no ostensible reason. His poetry gives expression to the
• theme that love helps human beings in their difficult effort
• to ascend to the divine. Architecture was his final and
• perhaps most influential legacy.
•
• I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him
• free.
• A beautiful thing never gives so much pain as does failing
• to hear and see it.
• The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine
• perfection.
• Trifles make perfection, but perfection is no trifle.
• Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can
• accomplish.
• I have never felt salvation in nature. I love cities above
• all.
• If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it
• wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.
• Genius is eternal patience.
• A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.
• The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain
• phantoms, and to confide in one’s self, and become something
• of worth and value is the best and safest course.
• Art and death do not go well together.
• No one has full mastery before reaching the end of his art
• and his life
• free.
• A beautiful thing never gives so much pain as does failing
• to hear and see it.
• The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine
• perfection.
• Trifles make perfection, but perfection is no trifle.
• Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can
• accomplish.
• I have never felt salvation in nature. I love cities above
• all.
• If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it
• wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.
• Genius is eternal patience.
• A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.
• The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain
• phantoms, and to confide in one’s self, and become something
• of worth and value is the best and safest course.
• Art and death do not go well together.
• No one has full mastery before reaching the end of his art
• and his life
• From his very beginnings, Michelangelo found admiration :
• whatever he did amazed everybody. But most admired by his
• contemporaries were his Sistine frescoes. In most of his
• paintings all human standards seem to have been surpassed in
• aim and in form. In sculpture too, Michelangelo showed how
• the movements of bone and flesh can express spiritual urges.
•
• In the last 22 years of his life Michelangelo finished none
• of his sculptures, in the last 14 no painting; but his fame
• continued to grow till the end. He worked in the spirit of
• the Renaissance and opened new vistas toward mannerism and
• the baroque.
•
• Michelangelo’s patrons included, Popes, prominent Florentine
• families, the Florentine Cathedral, Flemish merchants, a
• French Cardinal and a French minister. Michelangelo’s
• simultaneous commitment to an impossible number of
• commissions inevitably meant that many were destined to
• remain incomplete, and others were never begun.
• whatever he did amazed everybody. But most admired by his
• contemporaries were his Sistine frescoes. In most of his
• paintings all human standards seem to have been surpassed in
• aim and in form. In sculpture too, Michelangelo showed how
• the movements of bone and flesh can express spiritual urges.
•
• In the last 22 years of his life Michelangelo finished none
• of his sculptures, in the last 14 no painting; but his fame
• continued to grow till the end. He worked in the spirit of
• the Renaissance and opened new vistas toward mannerism and
• the baroque.
•
• Michelangelo’s patrons included, Popes, prominent Florentine
• families, the Florentine Cathedral, Flemish merchants, a
• French Cardinal and a French minister. Michelangelo’s
• simultaneous commitment to an impossible number of
• commissions inevitably meant that many were destined to
• remain incomplete, and others were never begun.
