Michelangelo
Key Facts
- Protégé of Lorenzo de' Medici from his teens, trained in Florence's humanist circle
- Pietà (1498-1499): a sculptural masterpiece, Michelangelo was only 24
- David (1501-1504): a marble colossus of 5.17 m, symbol of the Florentine Republic
- Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508-1512): 500 m² painted single-handedly, including The Creation of Adam
- The Last Judgment (1536-1541) on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, commissioned by Paul III
- Chief architect of St. Peter's in Rome from 1546: designs the monumental dome
- The only Renaissance artist to have two biographies published during his lifetime
Biography
Michelangelo Buonarroti was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese, a small town in Tuscany, to a family of minor Florentine nobility. Considered by his contemporaries a divine genius (the "divino"), he dominated the Italian Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation, leaving an indelible mark on sculpture, painting, architecture, and poetry. His seventy-year career and titanic works make him one of the most imposing figures in all of art history.
At thirteen he entered the workshop of painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, but it was sculpture that soon captured all his energy. Lorenzo de' Medici, the Magnificent, recognised his talent and welcomed him into his palace as if he were family, giving him access to antique collections and the humanists of his circle. After Lorenzo's death in 1492 and the fall of the Medici, Michelangelo stayed in Bologna then Rome, where he sculpted the Pieta (1498-1499), Mary holding the dead Christ on her lap, a work of such formal perfection that it stunned Rome and brought him immediate fame.
Back in Florence, he created the David (1501-1504), a white marble colossus 5.17 metres tall that became the symbol of the city and republican virtue. In 1508, Pope Julius II compelled him to undertake the decoration of the Sistine Chapel ceiling; Michelangelo, who considered himself primarily a sculptor, accepted reluctantly. For four years, lying on scaffolding, he painted alone more than 500 square metres of frescoes depicting Genesis, including the scene of The Creation of Adam, which became one of the most reproduced images in human history.
In the last part of his life, Michelangelo devoted himself primarily to architecture. Appointed chief architect of St Peter's Basilica in 1546, he designed the monumental dome that still dominates St Peter's Square today. He also sculpted the Moses and wrote hundreds of sonnets of deep Christian spirituality.
Michelangelo died in Rome on 18 February 1564, aged eighty-eight. He was the most celebrated artist of his lifetime: two biographies were published during his life, a unique fact in the Renaissance. His works remain among the most visited in the world.