1475 : MICHELANGELO BORN:
Michelangelo Buonarroti, the greatest of the Italian Renaissance
artists, is born in the small village of Caprese on March 6, 1475. The
son of a government administrator, he grew up in Florence, a center of
the early Renaissance movement, and became an artist's apprentice at
age 13. Demonstrating obvious talent, he was taken under the wing of
Lorenzo de' Medici, the ruler of the Florentine republic and a great
patron of the arts. For two years beginning in 1490, he lived in the
Medici palace, where he was a student of the sculptor Bertoldo di
Giovanni and studied the Medici art collection, which included ancient
Roman statuary.
With the expulsion of the Medici family from Florence in 1494,
Michelangelo traveled to Bologna and Rome, where he was commissioned
to do several works. His most important early work was the Pieta
(1498), a sculpture based on a traditional type of devotional image
that showed the body of Christ in the lap of the Virgin Mary.
Demonstrating masterful technical skill, he extracted the two
perfectly balanced figures of the Pieta from a single block of marble.
With the success of the PietÝ, the artist was commissioned to sculpt a
monumental statue of the biblical character David for the Florence
cathedral. The 17-foot statue, produced in the classical style,
demonstrates the artist's exhaustive knowledge of human anatomy and
form. In the work, David is shown watching the approach of his foe
Goliath, with every muscle tensed and a pose suggesting impending
movement. Upon the completion of David in 1504, Michelangelo's
reputation was firmly established.
That year, he agreed to paint a mural for the Florence city hall to
rest alongside one being painted by Leonardo da Vinci, another leading
Renaissance artist and an influence on Michelangelo. These murals,
which depicted military scenes, have not survived. In 1505, he began
work on a planned group of 12 marble apostles for the Florence
cathedral but abandoned the project when he was commissioned to design
and sculpt a massive tomb for Pope Julius II in Saint Peter's Basilica
in Rome. There were to have been 40 sculptures made for the tomb, but
the pope soon ran out of funds for the project, and Michelangelo left
Rome.
In 1508, he was called back to Rome to paint the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel--the chief consecrated space in the Vatican.
Michelangelo's epic ceiling frescoes, which took several years to
complete, are among his most memorable works. Central in a complex
system of decoration featuring numerous figures are nine panels
devoted to biblical world history. The most famous of these is The
Creation of Adam, a painting in which the arms of God and Adam are
outstretched toward each other.
In 1512, Michelangelo completed the Sistine Chapel ceiling and
returned to his work on Pope Julius II's tomb. He eventually completed
a total of just three statues for the tomb, which was eventually
placed in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli. The most notable of the
three is Moses (1513-15), a majestic statue made from a block of
marble regarded as unmalleable by other sculptors. In Moses, as in
David, Michelangelo infused the stone with a powerful sense of tension
and movement.
Having revolutionized European sculpture and painting, Michelangelo
turned to architecture in the latter half of his life. His first major
architectural achievement was the Medici chapel in the Church of San
Lorenzo in Florence, built to house the tombs of the two young Medici
family heirs who had recently died. The chapel, which he worked on
until 1534, featured many innovative architectural forms based on
classical models. The Laurentian Library, which he built as an annex
to the same church, is notable for its stair-hall, known as the
ricetto, which is regarded as the first instance of mannerism as an
architectural style. Mannerism, a successor to the Renaissance
artistic movement, subverted harmonious classical forms in favor of
expressiveness.
In 1534, Michelangelo left Florence for the last time and traveled to
Rome, where he would work and live for the rest of his life. That year
saw his painting of the The Last Judgment on a wall above the altar in
the Sistine Chapel for Pope Paul III. The massive painting depicts
Christ's damnation of sinners and blessing of the virtuous, and is
regarded as a masterpiece of early mannerism. During the last three
decades of his life, Michelangelo lent his talents to the design of
numerous monuments and buildings for Rome, which the pope and city
leaders were determined to restore to the grandeur of its ancient
past. The Capitoline Square and the dome of St. Peter's, designed by
Michelangelo but not completed in his lifetime, remain two of Rome's
most famous visual landmarks.
Michelangelo worked until his death in 1564 at the age of 88. In
addition to his major artistic works, he produced numerous other
sculptures, frescoes, architectural designs, and drawings, many of
which are unfinished and some of which are lost. He was also an
accomplished poet, and some 300 of his poems are preserved. In his
lifetime, he was celebrated as Europe's greatest living artist, and
today he is held up as one of the greatest artists of all time, as
exalted in the visual arts as William Shakespeare is in literature or
Ludwig van Beethoven is in music.
history.com/tdih.do
Michelangelo Buonarroti, the greatest of the Italian Renaissance
artists, is born in the small village of Caprese on March 6, 1475. The
son of a government administrator, he grew up in Florence, a center of
the early Renaissance movement, and became an artist's apprentice at
age 13. Demonstrating obvious talent, he was taken under the wing of
Lorenzo de' Medici, the ruler of the Florentine republic and a great
patron of the arts. For two years beginning in 1490, he lived in the
Medici palace, where he was a student of the sculptor Bertoldo di
Giovanni and studied the Medici art collection, which included ancient
Roman statuary.
With the expulsion of the Medici family from Florence in 1494,
Michelangelo traveled to Bologna and Rome, where he was commissioned
to do several works. His most important early work was the Pieta
(1498), a sculpture based on a traditional type of devotional image
that showed the body of Christ in the lap of the Virgin Mary.
Demonstrating masterful technical skill, he extracted the two
perfectly balanced figures of the Pieta from a single block of marble.
With the success of the PietÝ, the artist was commissioned to sculpt a
monumental statue of the biblical character David for the Florence
cathedral. The 17-foot statue, produced in the classical style,
demonstrates the artist's exhaustive knowledge of human anatomy and
form. In the work, David is shown watching the approach of his foe
Goliath, with every muscle tensed and a pose suggesting impending
movement. Upon the completion of David in 1504, Michelangelo's
reputation was firmly established.
That year, he agreed to paint a mural for the Florence city hall to
rest alongside one being painted by Leonardo da Vinci, another leading
Renaissance artist and an influence on Michelangelo. These murals,
which depicted military scenes, have not survived. In 1505, he began
work on a planned group of 12 marble apostles for the Florence
cathedral but abandoned the project when he was commissioned to design
and sculpt a massive tomb for Pope Julius II in Saint Peter's Basilica
in Rome. There were to have been 40 sculptures made for the tomb, but
the pope soon ran out of funds for the project, and Michelangelo left
Rome.
In 1508, he was called back to Rome to paint the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel--the chief consecrated space in the Vatican.
Michelangelo's epic ceiling frescoes, which took several years to
complete, are among his most memorable works. Central in a complex
system of decoration featuring numerous figures are nine panels
devoted to biblical world history. The most famous of these is The
Creation of Adam, a painting in which the arms of God and Adam are
outstretched toward each other.
In 1512, Michelangelo completed the Sistine Chapel ceiling and
returned to his work on Pope Julius II's tomb. He eventually completed
a total of just three statues for the tomb, which was eventually
placed in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli. The most notable of the
three is Moses (1513-15), a majestic statue made from a block of
marble regarded as unmalleable by other sculptors. In Moses, as in
David, Michelangelo infused the stone with a powerful sense of tension
and movement.
Having revolutionized European sculpture and painting, Michelangelo
turned to architecture in the latter half of his life. His first major
architectural achievement was the Medici chapel in the Church of San
Lorenzo in Florence, built to house the tombs of the two young Medici
family heirs who had recently died. The chapel, which he worked on
until 1534, featured many innovative architectural forms based on
classical models. The Laurentian Library, which he built as an annex
to the same church, is notable for its stair-hall, known as the
ricetto, which is regarded as the first instance of mannerism as an
architectural style. Mannerism, a successor to the Renaissance
artistic movement, subverted harmonious classical forms in favor of
expressiveness.
In 1534, Michelangelo left Florence for the last time and traveled to
Rome, where he would work and live for the rest of his life. That year
saw his painting of the The Last Judgment on a wall above the altar in
the Sistine Chapel for Pope Paul III. The massive painting depicts
Christ's damnation of sinners and blessing of the virtuous, and is
regarded as a masterpiece of early mannerism. During the last three
decades of his life, Michelangelo lent his talents to the design of
numerous monuments and buildings for Rome, which the pope and city
leaders were determined to restore to the grandeur of its ancient
past. The Capitoline Square and the dome of St. Peter's, designed by
Michelangelo but not completed in his lifetime, remain two of Rome's
most famous visual landmarks.
Michelangelo worked until his death in 1564 at the age of 88. In
addition to his major artistic works, he produced numerous other
sculptures, frescoes, architectural designs, and drawings, many of
which are unfinished and some of which are lost. He was also an
accomplished poet, and some 300 of his poems are preserved. In his
lifetime, he was celebrated as Europe's greatest living artist, and
today he is held up as one of the greatest artists of all time, as
exalted in the visual arts as William Shakespeare is in literature or
Ludwig van Beethoven is in music.
history.com/tdih.do
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