Michelangelo Life -Biography Sculptor, Painter, Facts,

Michelangelo- Life History : Sculptor

Michelangelo: Michelangelo is a famous painter, sculptor, architect and poet of the Renaissance. He was born on March 6, 1475 in the village Caprese in Florentine territories to Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarotto Simoni and Francesca Neri. His mother was too ill to take care of him and so, he was put in a family of stone cutters with a wet nurse. Michelangelo’s mother died when he was only six. His father sent him to learn letters where he befriended Francesco Granacci, who was learning to paint with Ghirlandaio’s.

At the age of thirteen, he apprenticed in Ghirlandaio’s workshop and a year later studied at the Medici gardens’ sculpture school. He was invited to the Medici family’s home, where he met the future popes of the Medici family. He used to study bodies at the Santo Spirito church at the time. He created the Wooden Crucifix, the Centaur Battle, and the Madonna of the Stairs.

The architect of the balance of power in Italy died in 1492. His death had grave repercussions on Italian politics, but he left a precious legacy in the city of Florence. Florence became fractionated and unstable after the death of Lorenzo, the Magnificent and Michelangelo moved to Rome. There he sculptured the Bacchus and followed the Pieta for Saint Peter’s. Michelangelo signed this work in a burst of rage but it remained the only one he signed.

When Florence was once again a republic in 1501, Michelangelo moved there and sculptured the giant David. After this, he made a drawing for a painting of the Battle of Cascina, for the Palazzo Vecchio. He also made in these years the Bruges Madonna and the painting of the Tondo of the Holy Family.

Michelangelo Early Life

In 1505, Pope Julius commissioned Michelangelo to make his tomb as a sculptural project. However, in 1508, Pope Julius, told him to delay work on the pope’s tomb, and paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling 2. Michelangelo tried to turn down the commission, but of no use. He wrote in fact a sonnet explaining that painting is not his art (sculpture is). On the vault of the ceiling, he painted scenes from Genesis while on the sides are seated prophets and sibyls between the ancestors of Christ.

 

Michelangelo : When Michelangelo returned to work on the Julius tomb, it was demanded that the size be reduced. The main sculpture of this tomb is the Moses (circa 1515), which can be found in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli. The statues of the Dying Slave and the Bound Slave have remained unfinished since around this time.

He moved to Florence and as an architect, Michelangelo in 1519, designed the facade of the San Lorenzo church in Florence and the Laurentian Library. In 1526, Florence was a republic again and at war with Rome. He was helping design the fortifications of the city. He fled to Venice. With the return of the Medici to power, he was allowed back to the city.

In 1535, Michelangelo began to work on the Last Judgment which he was commissioned to do by pope Clement VII. The nudity of the painted figures gave rise to criticism when Michelangelo met Vittoria Colonna in 1538. She was a poetess and an educated woman. They became close friends and Michelangelo wrote her some of his best poems. In 1538-39, he planned the buildings of the Campidoglio on the Capitoline Hill. His plan was carried out late and finished only in the 17th century.

During the last years of Michelangelo’s life, he made many studies and drawings of the Crucifixion and the Lament over the Dead Christ. In these years, he also sculpted the Florentine Pieta, for his own tomb. When he was unsatisfied with the pieta, he broke parts of it with a hammer. He also made the Rondanini Pieta. The fresco of The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Paul III, and Michelangelo laboured on the project from 1534 to October 1541.

Around 1530, he designed the Laurentian Library in Florence, attached to the church of San Lorenzo Michelangelo died on February 18, 1564, after a slow fever. He was buried in Rome but his nephew, Lionardo Buonarroti, carried the corpse to Florence where Michelangelo wanted to be buried, and was buried in the Santa Croce church.