Difference between revisions of "Michelangelo" - New World Encyclopedia

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{{Infobox Biography
 
{{Infobox Biography
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| subject_name =  
 
'''Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni '''
 
'''Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni '''
| image_name     = Michelango Portrait by Volterra.jpg
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| image_name = Michelango Portrait by Volterra.jpg
| image_size     = 200px
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| image_size = 200px
| image_caption = Chalk portrait of Michelangelo by [[Daniele da Volterra]]
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| image_caption = Chalk portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra
| date_of_birth = [[March 6]], [[1475]]
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| date_of_birth = March 6, 1475
| place_of_birth = near [[Arezzo]], in [[Caprese Michelangelo|Caprese]], [[Tuscany]]
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| place_of_birth = near Arezzo, in Caprese, Tuscany
| date_of_death = [[February 18]], [[1564]]
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| date_of_death = February 18, 1564
 
| place_of_death =  
 
| place_of_death =  
| occupation     = sculptor, painter, architect and poet
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| occupation = sculptor, painter, architect and poet
| spouse         =  
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| spouse   =  
 
}}
 
}}
  
'''Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni''' ([[March 6]], [[1475]] – [[February 18]], [[1564]]), commonly known as '''Michelangelo''', was an [[Italian Renaissance]] sculptor, painter, architect and [[poet]]. Despite making few forays beyond the [[arts]], his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal [[Renaissance man]], along with his rival and fellow [[Florentine]] [[Leonardo da Vinci]].
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'''Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni''' (March 6, 1475 February 18, 1564), commonly known as '''Michelangelo''', was an [[Italian Renaissance]] sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. His versatility, accomplishment, and artistic mastery were so commanding that he is often considered the archetypal Renaissance Man, along with his rival and fellow Florentine, [[Leonardo da Vinci]].
  
Michelangelo's output in every field during his long life was prodigious; when the sheer volume of correspondence, sketches and reminiscences that survive is also taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century. Two of his best-known works, the ''[[Pietà (Michelangelo)|Pietà]]'' and the ''[[David (Michelangelo)|David]]'', were sculpted in his late twenties to early thirties. Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential [[fresco]] paintings in the history of Western art: the [[Sistine Chapel ceiling|scenes from Genesis]] on the ceiling and ''[[The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)|The Last Judgement]]'' on the altar wall of the [[Sistine Chapel]] in [[Rome]]. Later in life he designed the dome of [[St Peter's Basilica]] in the same city and revolutionised classical architecture with his invention of the [[giant order]] of [[pilaster]]s.
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Michelangelo's output in every field during his long life was prodigious. When the sheer volume of correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences that survive is taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the sixteenth century. Two of his best-known works, the ''Pietà'' and the ''David,'' were sculpted in his late twenties to early thirties. Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential fresco paintings in the [[history]] of Western [[art]]: the scenes from [[Genesis]] on the ceiling of the [[Sistine Chapel]] at the [[Vatican]] in [[Rome]] and ''The Last Judgment'' on the chapel's altar wall. Later in life, he designed the dome of [[St. Peter's Basilica]] at the Vatican and revolutionized classical architecture with his invention of the giant order of pilasters.
  
Uniquely for a Renaissance artist, two biographies were published of Michelangelo during his own lifetime. One of them, by [[Giorgio Vasari]], proposed that he was the pinnacle of all artistic achievement since the beginning of the [[Renaissance]], a viewpoint that continued to have currency in art history for centuries. In his lifetime he was also often called ''Il Divino'' ("the divine one"), an appropriate sobriquet given his intense spirituality. One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his ''terribilità'', a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur, and it was the attempts of subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo's impassioned and highly personal style that resulted in the next major movement in Western art after the [[High Renaissance]], [[Mannerism]].
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In his lifetime, Michelangelo was often called ''Il Divino'' ("the divine one"), an appropriate sobriquet given his intense spirituality. His statue of David is testimony to the beauty of God's creation, even though the artist saw the raw material of inert stone as an obstacle to be mastered, a vault from which the sculptor laboriously released the work of art. One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his ''terribilità,'' a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur. It was attempts by subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo's impassioned and highly personal style that resulted in the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance, [[Mannerism]].
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Unique for a Renaissance artist, two biographies were published of Michelangelo during his lifetime. Biographer Giorgio Vasari called his work the pinnacle of all artistic achievement since the beginning of the Renaissance. This viewpoint was upheld in art history for centuries. Michelangelo died in 1564, the year of the birth of [[Galileo]] and [[William Shakespeare]].
  
===Early life===
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==Early life==
[[Image:PICT0529.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Bust of Michelangelo on the roof of [[St Peter's Basilica]], [[Rome]]]]
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[[Image:PICT0529.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Bust of Michelangelo on the roof of [[St. Peter's Basilica]], [[Rome]]]]
  
Michelangelo was born in [[1475]] near [[Arezzo]], in [[Caprese Michelangelo|Caprese]], [[Tuscany]].  
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Michelangelo was born in 1475 near Arezzo, in Caprese, Tuscany.  
His father, Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarotti di Simoni, was the resident [[magistrate]] in Caprese and [[podestà]] of [[Chiusi]]. His mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di [[Siena]]. As genealogies of the day indicated that the Buonarroti descended from Countess [[Matilda of Tuscany]], the family was considered minor nobility. However, Michelangelo was raised in [[Florence]] and later, during the prolonged illness and after the death of his birth mother, lived with a stonecutter and his wife and family in the town of [[Settignano]] where his father owned a marble quarry and a small farm. Michelangelo once said to the biographer of artists [[Giorgio Vasari]], "What little good I have within me came from the pure air of your native Arezzo and the chisels and hammers I sucked from my mother's milk."
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His father, Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarotti di Simoni, was the resident magistrate in Caprese and podestà of Chiusi. His mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena. Genealogies of the day indicated that the Buonarroti descended from Countess Matilda of Tuscany, so the family was considered minor nobility. Even so, the family was far from rich. Lodovico struggled financially and definitely hoped for the day when Michelangelo would contribute an income to help with the family obligations.  
  
Against his father's wishes (in fact to persuade him to take up a more honorable profession, his father would beat him), after a period of [[Grammar|grammatics]] studies with the [[Humanism|humanist]] [[Francesco d'Urbino]] Michelangelo chose to continue his apprenticeship in painting with [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]] and in sculpture with [[Bertoldo di Giovanni]]. On [[June 28]] [[1488]] he signed with an already famous painter a contract for three years starting in [[1488]]. Amazingly enough, Michelangelo's father was able to get Ghirlandaio to pay the young artist, which was unheard of at the time. In fact, most apprentices paid their masters for the education. Impressed, Domenico recommended him to the ruler of the city, [[Lorenzo de' Medici]], and Michelangelo left his workshop in [[1489]]. From [[1490]] to [[1492]], Michelangelo attended Lorenzo's school and was influenced by many prominent people who modified and expanded his ideas on art, following the dominant [[Platonism|Platonic]] view of that age, and even his feelings about sexuality. It was during this period that Michelangelo met literary personalities like [[Pico della Mirandola]], [[Angelo Poliziano]] and [[Marsilio Ficino]].  
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Michelangelo was raised in [[Florence]]. Later, during his mother's prolonged illness and following her death, he lived with a stonecutter and his wife and family in the town of Settignano where his father owned a marble quarry and a small farm. From a young age, he loved the feel of marble beneath his fingers and felt at home while working it. Michelangelo once said to Giorgio Vasari, the biographer of artists, "What little good I have within me came from the pure air of your native Arezzo and the chisels and hammers I sucked from my mother's milk."
  
In this period Michelangelo finished ''[[Madonna of the Steps]]'' (1490–1492) and ''[[Battle of the Centaurs]]'' (1491–1492). The latter was based on a theme suggested by Poliziano and was commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici. After the death of Lorenzo on [[April 8]], [[1492]], for whom Michelangelo had become a kind of son, Michelangelo quit the Medici court. In the following months he produced a ''[[Crucifix (Michelangelo)|Wooden crucifix]]'' ([[1493]]), as a thanksgiving gift to the prior of the church of [[Santo Spirito di Firenze|Santa Maria del Santo Spirito]] who had permitted him some studies of [[anatomy]] on the corpses of the church's Hospital. Between 1493 and [[1494]] he bought the marble for a larger than life statue of [[Hercules]], which was sent to [[France]] and disappeared sometime in the [[1700s]]. He could enter again the court after on [[January 20]], [[1494]], Piero de Medici commissioned a snow statue from him. But that year the Medici were expelled from Florence after the [[Savonarola]] rise, and Michelangelo also left the city before the end of the political upheaval, moving to [[Venice]] and then to [[Bologna]]. He did stay in Florence for awhile hiding in a small room underneath San Lorenzo that can still be visited to this day. In this room there are charcoal sketches still on the walls of various images that Michelangelo drew from his memory.
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Michelangelo devoted a period to grammar studies with the humanist Francesco d'Urbino. After a time, and in defiance of his father's wishes, Michelangelo chose to continue his apprenticeship in painting with [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]], a well known painter, and in sculpture with [[Bertoldo di Giovanni]]. On June 28, 1488 he signed a contract for three years with Ghirlandaio. Lodovico tried to insist that his son take up a more practical and lucrative profession and was not averse to using harsh treatment and words to get his way. Michelangelo was driven from deep within. When Lodovico was unable to persuade or force him, amazingly, Lodovico was able to get Ghirlandaio to pay the young artist, which was unheard of at the time. In fact, most apprentices paid their masters for the education.  
  
Here he was commissioned to finish the carving of the last small figures of the [[Arca di San Domenico|tomb and shrine of St. Dominic]], in the church with the same name. He returned to Florence at the end of 1494, but soon he fled again, scared by the turmoils and by the menace of the French invasion.
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Impressed by Michelangelo's talent and work ethic, Ghirlandaio recommended him to the head of the ruling Medici family, [[Lorenzo de' Medici]]. After leaving Ghirlandaio in 1489, Michelangelo dedicated himself to his studies at Lorenzo's school from 1490 to 1492. There, he was influenced by many prominent people who modified and expanded his ideas on art, following the dominant [[Platonism|Platonic]] view of the age. During this period, Michelangelo met literary personalities [[Pico della Mirandola]], [[Angelo Poliziano]], and [[Marsilio Ficino]].  
  
He was again in his city between the end of [[1495]] and the June of [[1496]]: if [[Leonardo]] considered [[Savonarola]] a fanatic and left the city, Michelangelo was touched by the friar's preaching, by the associated moral severity and by the hope of renovation of the [[Roman Church]]. In that year a marble ''[[Cupid (Michelangelo)|Cupid]]'' by Michelangelo was treacherously sold to Cardinal [[Raffaele Riario]] as an ancient piece: the prelate found out that it was a fraud, but was so impressed by the quality of the sculpture that he invited the artist to [[Rome]], where he arrived on [[June 26]] [[1496]]. On [[July 4]] Michelangelo started to carve an over-life-size statue of the Roman wine god, ''[[Bacchus (Michelangelo)|Bacchus]]'', commissioned by the banker Jacopo Galli for his garden.  
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In this period Michelangelo finished ''Madonna of the Steps'' (1490–1492) and ''Battle of the Centaurs'' (1491–1492). 'Centaurs' was based on a theme suggested by Poliziano and was commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici. Michelangelo had become like a son to Lorenzo. After Lorenzo's death on April 8, 1492, Michelangelo quit the Medici court.  
  
Subsequently, in November of [[1497]], the [[France|French]] ambassador in the Holy See commissioned one of his most famous works, the ''[[Pietà (Michelangelo)|Pietà]]''. The contemporary opinion about this work — "a revelation of all the potentialities and force of the art of sculpture" — was summarised by Vasari: "It is certainly a miracle that a formless block of stone could ever have been reduced to a perfection that nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh.[http://www.michelangelo.com/buon/bio-early.html see photo]"
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In the following months he produced a ''Wooden Crucifix'' (1493), as a thanksgiving gift to the prior of the church of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito who had permitted him some studies of [[anatomy]] on the corpses of the church's hospital. Between 1493 and 1494 he bought the marble for a larger than life statue of [[Hercules]], which was sent to [[France]] and disappeared sometime in the 1700s.  
  
The contract was stipulated in the August of the following year. Though he devoted himself only to sculpture, during his first stay in Rome Michelangelo never stopped his daily practice of drawing. In Rome, Michelangelo lived near the church of [[Santa Maria di Loreto (Rome)|Santa Maria di Loreto]]: here, according to the legends, he fell in love (probably a Platonic love) with [[Vittoria Colonna]], marquise of [[Pescara]] and poet. His house was demolished in [[1874]], and the remaining architectural elements saved by new proprietors were destroyed in [[1930]]. Today a modern reconstruction of Michelangelo's house can be seen on the [[Gianicolo]] hill.
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He entered the Medici court again on January 20, 1494. Piero de Medici commissioned a snow statue from him. But that year, the Medici were expelled from Florence after the Savonarola rise. Michelangelo stayed in Florence for awhile, in a small room underneath San Lorenzo that can still be visited to this day. In this room, there are charcoal sketches still on the walls of various images that Michelangelo drew from memory. Michelangelo left Florence before the end of the political upheaval. He moved to [[Venice]] and then to [[Bologna]].
  
[[Image:Chapel of the Pieta, St Peters Basilica.jpg|thumb|250px|Michelangelo's ''[[Pietà (Michelangelo)|Pietà]]'' was carved in 1499, when the sculptor was 24 years old.]]
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In Bologna, he was commissioned to finish the carving of the last small figures of the tomb and shrine of St. Dominic.  
Michelangelo returned to Florence in [[1499]]–[[1501]]. Things were changing in the city after the fall of Savonarola and the rise of the ''gonfaloniere'' [[Pier Soderini]]. He was proposed by the consuls of the Guild of Wool to complete a project started 40 years before by [[Agostino di Duccio]] that had never materialized: a colossal statue portraying David as a symbol of Florentine freedom, to be placed in the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the [[Palazzo Vecchio]]. Michelangelo replied to the commissioning by completing arguably his most famous work, ''[[David (Michelangelo)|David]]'' in [[1504]]. This masterwork definitively established his fame as sculptor for his extraordinary technical skill and the strength of his symbolic imagination.
 
  
Also during this period, Michelangelo painted the ''Holy Family and St John'', also known as the ''[[Doni Tondo]]'' or the ''Holy Family of the Tribune'': it was commissioned for the marriage of Angelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi and in the 17th Century hung in the room known as the Tribune in the [[Uffizi]]. He also may have painted the Madonna and Child with [[John the Baptist]], known as the ''Manchester Madonna'' and now in the [[National Gallery, London]].
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After nearly a year away, he returned to Florence at the end of 1494. But he soon fled again to escape the turmoil and the menace of the French invasion. He was in his home city of Florence again between the end of 1495 and June of 1496. Michelangelo was touched by Friar Savonarola's preaching, moral severity, and his vision of renovation of the Roman Church.  
  
===Under Pope Julius II in Rome: the Sistine Chapel ceiling===
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A marble ''Cupid'' by Michelangelo was fraudulently sold to Cardinal Raffaele Riario as an ancient piece in 1496. The prelate found out that it was a fraud, but was so impressed by the quality of the sculpture that he invited the artist to Rome, where he arrived on June 26, 1496. On July 4, Michelangelo started to carve a larger than-life-size statue of the Roman wine god, ''Bacchus,'' commissioned by the banker Jacopo Galli for his garden.  
{{main|Sistine Chapel ceiling}}
 
[[Image:Sistine.chapel.entire.500pix.jpg|thumb|left|Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the [[Sistine Chapel]].]]
 
  
Michelangelo was invited back to the great city of Rome in [[1503]] by the newly appointed [[Pope Julius II]] and was commissioned to build the Pope's tomb. However, under the patronage of Julius II, Michelangelo had to constantly stop work on the tomb in order to accomplish numerous other tasks; due to such interruptions, Michelangelo worked on the tomb for 40 years without ever finishing it.  One such interruption was the commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took four years to complete ([[1508]] – [[1512]]). According to Michelangelo's own account, reproduced in contemporary biographies, Bramante and Raphael convinced the Pope to commission Michelangelo in a medium not familiar to the artist, in order that he might be diverted from his preference for sculpture into fresco painting, and thus suffer from unfavourable comparisons with his rival Raphael. However, this story is heavily discounted by modern historians and contemporary evidence, and may be merely a reflection of his own perspective.
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Subsequently, in November of 1497, the French ambassador in the Holy See commissioned one of his most famous works, the ''Pietà.'' The contemporary opinion about this work — “a revelation of all the potentialities and force of the art of sculpture” — was summarized by Vasari: “It is certainly a miracle that a formless block of stone could ever have been reduced to a perfection that nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh.
  
Michelangelo was originally employed to paint the 12 Apostles, but protested for a different scheme, and eventually completed the work with over 300 Biblical figures in a composition which has attracted many different interpretations. His figures showed the [[Creation (theology)|creation]], the creation of Man, the creation of Woman, [[Adam and Eve]] in the [[Garden of Eden]], the drunkenness of Noah and the [[Deluge (mythology)|Great Flood]]. Around the windows he painted the ancestors of Christ. On the ''pendentives'' supporting the ceiling he alternated seven Prophets of Israel with five ''sibyls'', female prophets of the Classical world, with [[Jonah]] over the altar. On the highest section Michelangelo painted nine episodes from the [[Genesis|Book of Genesis]].
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Though he devoted himself only to sculpture during his first stay in Rome, Michelangelo continued his daily practice of drawing. In Rome, Michelangelo lived near the church of Santa Maria di Loreto. Here, according to legend, he fell in love with Vittoria Colonna, marquise of Pescara and a poet.  
  
===Under Medici Popes in Florence===
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The house Michelangelo lived in during this time was demolished in 1874. The remaining architectural elements saved by new proprietors were destroyed in 1930. Today a modern reconstruction of Michelangelo's house can be seen on Gianicolo hill.
[[Image:Michaelangelo's_Moses.jpg|thumb|Michelangelo's ''[[Moses (Michelangelo)|Moses]]''.]]
 
  
In [[1513]] Pope Julius II died and his successor [[Pope Leo X]], a Medici, commissioned Michelangelo to reconstruct the façade of the [[Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze|basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence]] and to adorn it with sculptures. Michelangelo agreed reluctantly. The three years he spent in creating drawings and models for the facade, as well as attempting to open a new marble quarry at Pietrasanta specifically for the project, were among the most frustrating in his career, as work was abruptly cancelled by his financially-strapped patrons before any real progress had been made. The basilica lacks a facade to this day.
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[[Image:Chapel of the Pieta, St Peters Basilica.jpg|thumb|250px|Michelangelo's ''Pietà'' was carved in 1499, when the sculptor was just 24 years old.]]
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Michelangelo returned to Florence from 1499–1501. Things were changing in the city after the fall of Savonarola and the rise of the ''gonfaloniere'' Pier Soderini. He was proposed by the consuls of the Guild of Wool to complete a project started 40 years before by [[Agostino di Duccio]] that had never materialized: a colossal statue portraying David as a symbol of Florentine freedom, to be placed in the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. Michelangelo responded to the commissioning by completing his most famous work, ''David'' in 1504. This masterwork definitively established his fame as sculptor for his extraordinary technical skill and the strength of his symbolic imagination. The sculpture of David stands in the Academy in Florence. Indeed it is a stunning depiction of David, larger than life, so strong and handsome, as he contemplates his approaching confrontation with Goliath. The giant sculpture is so flawless that it is hard to imagine that it emerged from marble with the help of human hands.
  
Apparently not the least embarrassed by this turnabout, the Medici later came back to Michelangelo with another grand proposal, this time for a family funerary chapel in the [[Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze|basilica of San Lorenzo]]. Fortunately for posterity, this project, occupying the artist for much of the [[1520s]] and [[1530s]], was more fully realized. Though still incomplete, it is the best example we have of the integration of the artist's sculptural and architectural vision, since Michelangelo created both the major sculptures as well as the interior plan. Ironically the most prominent tombs are those of two rather obscure Medici who died young, a son and grandson of Lorenzo. [[Lorenzo de' Medici|Il Magnifico]] himself is buried in an obscure corner of the chapel, not given a free-standing monument, as originally intended. He was also tutored and was first apprenticed to [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0820718.html Ghirlandaio]
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Also during this period, Michelangelo painted the ''Holy Family and St. John,'' also known as the ''Doni Tondo'' or the ''Holy Family of the Tribune.'' It was commissioned for the marriage of Angelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi. In the seventeenth century, the painting hung in the room known as the Tribune in the Uffizi. He also may have painted the Madonna and Child with [[John the Baptist]], known as the ''Manchester Madonna'' and now in the National Gallery, London.
  
[[Image:Last judgement.jpg|thumbnail|left|200px|Michelangelo's ''The Last Judgement''. [[Saint Bartholomew]] is shown holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin. The face of the skin is recognizable as Michelangelo.]]
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==Under Pope Julius II in Rome: the Sistine Chapel ceiling==
In [[1527]], the Florentine citizens, encouraged by the [[sack of Rome (1527)|sack of Rome]], threw out the [[Medici]] and restored the republic. A siege of the city ensued, and Michelangelo went to the aid of his beloved Florence by working on the city's fortifications from [[1528]] to [[1529]]. The city fell in [[1530]] and the Medici were restored to power. Completely out of sympathy with the repressive reign of the ducal Medici, Michelangelo left Florence for good in the mid-1530s, leaving assistants to complete the Medici chapel.  Years later his body was brought back from Rome for interment at the [[Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze|Basilica di Santa Croce]], fulfilling the maestro's last request to be buried in his beloved [[Tuscany]].
 
  
[[Image:Petersdom von Engelsburg gesehen.jpg|thumb|Michelangelo designed the dome of [[St. Peter's Basilica]], although it was unfinished when he died.]]
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Michelangelo was invited back to Rome in 1503 by the newly appointed [[Pope Julius II]] and was commissioned to build the Pope's tomb. Under the patronage of Julius II, Michelangelo constantly had to stop work on the tomb to accomplish numerous other tasks. Due to interruptions, Michelangelo worked on the tomb for 40 years without finishing it. One interruption was the commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took four years to complete (1508 – 1512). According to Michelangelo's account, Bramante and Raphael convinced the Pope to commission Michelangelo in a medium not familiar to the artist, to divert him from his preference for sculpture into fresco painting, so that unfavorable comparisons with his rival Raphael would be made. However, this story is heavily discounted by modern historians and contemporary evidence, and may merely have reflected his suspicions, as he grappled with frustration over being separated from his beloved marble.  
  
===Last works in Rome===
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Michelangelo was employed by Pope Julius II to paint the 12 Apostles on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but protested for a different scheme. Eventually he completed the work with over 300 Biblical figures in a composition. His figures showed the creation of Man, the creation of Woman, [[Adam and Eve]] in the [[Garden of Eden]], and the drunkenness of [[Noah]] and the [[Great Flood]]. Around the windows he painted the ancestors of [[Christ]]. On the ''pendentives'' supporting the ceiling he alternated seven Prophets of Israel with five ''sibyls'', female prophets of the classical world, with [[Jonah]] over the altar. On the highest section, Michelangelo painted nine episodes from the [[Genesis|Book of Genesis]]. His drive to manifest what he imagined ruled him.
  
The [[fresco]] of ''[[The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)|The Last Judgment]]'' on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was commissioned by [[Pope Paul III]], and Michelangelo labored on the project from [[1534]] to October [[1541]]. The work is massive and spans the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel.  The Last Judgment is a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse;  where the souls of humanity rise and are assigned to their various fates, as judged by Christ, surrounded by the Saints.
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==Under Medici Popes in Florence==
  
Once completed, the depictions of nakedness in the papal chapel was considered obscene and sacrilegeous, and Cardinal Carafa and Monsignor Sernini ([[Mantua|Mantua's]] ambassador) campaigned to have the fresco removed or censored, but the Pope resisted. After Michelangelo's death, it was decided to obscure the genitals (''"Pictura in Cappella Ap.ca coopriantur"''). So [[Daniele da Volterra]], an apprentice of Michelangelo, was commimssioned to cover with sort of perizomas (briefs) the genitals, leaving unaltered the complex of bodies (see details[http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/m/michelan/3sistina/lastjudg/0lastjud.jpg]).
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In 1513 Pope Julius II died. His successor [[Pope Leo X]], a Medici, commissioned Michelangelo to reconstruct the façade of the Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze in Florence and to adorn it with sculptures. Michelangelo agreed reluctantly. The three years he spent creating drawings and models for the façade, as well as attempting to open a new marble quarry at Pietrasanta for the project, were among the most frustrating in his career. Work was abruptly cancelled by his financially strapped patrons before any real progress had been made. The basilica lacks a façade to this day.  
When the work was restored in [[1993]], the restorers chose not to remove all the perizomas of Daniele, leaving some of them as a historical document and because some of Michelangelo’s work was tragically scraped away by the touch-up artist application of “decency” to the masterpiece. A faithful uncensored copy of the original, by [[Marcello Venusti]], can be seen at the [[Museo di Capodimonte|Capodimonte Museum]] of [[Naples]].
 
  
Censorship always followed Michelangelo, once described as "inventor delle porcherie" ("inventor of obscenities", in the original Italian language referring to "pork things"). The infamous "fig-leaf campaign" of the [[Counter-Reformation]], aiming to cover all representations of human genitals in paintings and sculptures, started with Michelangelo's works. To give two examples, the bronze [actually, marble] statue of ''[[Cristo della Minerva]]'' (church of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]], [[Rome]]) was covered by a pan, as it remains today, and the statue of the naked child Jesus in ''[[Madonna of Bruges]]'' (The Church of Our Lady in [[Bruges]], [[Belgium]]) remained covered for several decades.  
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Apparently not the least embarrassed by this, the Medici later came back to Michelangelo with another grand proposal, for a family funerary chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo. Fortunately for posterity, this project, occupying the artist for much of the 1520s and 1530s, was more fully realized. Though still incomplete, it is the best example of the integration of the artist's sculptural and architectural vision. Michelangelo created both the major sculptures and the interior plan. Ironically, the most prominent tombs are those of two rather obscure Medici who died young, a son and grandson of Lorenzo. Lorenzo de' Medici, Il Magnifico is buried in an obscure corner of the chapel, without the free-standing monument that had been planned.  
  
In [[1546]], Michelangelo was appointed architect of [[St. Peter's Basilica]] in the Vatican, and designed its dome. As St. Peter's was progressing there was concern that Michelangelo would pass away before the dome was finished. Once they started building the lower part of the dome, the supporting ring, they knew that the whole design would rise as there would be no way to turn back.
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[[Image:Last judgement.jpg|thumbnail|left|200px|Michelangelo's ''The Last Judgement''. Saint Bartholomew is shown holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin. The face of the skin is recognizable as Michelangelo.]]
[[Image:Michelangelo tomb.JPG|thumb|Michelangelo's own tomb, at [[Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze]], Florence]]
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In 1527, the Florentine citizens, encouraged by the sack of Rome, threw out the Medici and restored the republic. A siege of the city ensued. Michelangelo went to the aid of his beloved Florence by working on the city's fortifications from 1528 to 1529. The city fell in 1530 and the Medici family rule was restored to power. Completely out of sympathy with the repressive reign of the ducal Medici, Michelangelo left Florence for good in the mid-1530s, leaving assistants to complete the Medici chapel. Years later his body was brought back from Rome for interment at the Basilica di Santa Croce, fulfilling the maestro's last request to be buried in his beloved Tuscany.
  
==Michelangelo the architect==
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[[Image:Petersdom von Engelsburg gesehen.jpg|thumb|Michelangelo designed the dome of [[St. Peter's Basilica]], although it was unfinished when he died.]]
The Capitoline Square, designed by Michelangelo during the same period, was located on Rome's Capitoline Hill. Its shape, more a rhomboid than a square, was intended to counteract the effects of perspective.  
 
  
===Michelangelo's David===
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==Last works in Rome==
  
{{main|David (Michelangelo)}}
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The fresco of ''The Last Judgment'' on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was commissioned by [[Pope Paul III]]. Michelangelo labored on the project from 1534 to October 1541. The work is massive and spans the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. The Last Judgment is a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse; where the souls of humanity rise and are assigned to their various fates, as judged by Christ, surrounded by the Saints.  
 
 
===Laurentian Library===
 
Around [[1530]] Michelangelo designed the [[Laurentian Library]] in Florence, attached to the church of San Lorenzo. He produced new styles such as [[pilasters]] tapering thinner at the bottom, and a staircase with contrasting rectangular and curving forms.
 
  
===Medici Chapel===
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The depictions of nakedness in the papal chapel were considered obscene and sacrilegious. Cardinal Carafa and Monsignor Sernini Mantua's ambassador campaigned to have the fresco removed or censored, but the Pope resisted. After Michelangelo's death, it was decided to obscure the genitals (''"Pictura in Cappella Ap.ca coopriantur"''). So Daniele da Volterra, an apprentice of Michelangelo, was commissioned to cover the genitals with perizomas (briefs), leaving the complex of bodies unaltered.
{{sect-stub}}
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When the work was restored in 1993, the restorers did not remove all the perizomas. Some were left as a historical document. Also, some of Michelangelo’s work had been tragically scraped away when the perizomas had been installed. A faithful uncensored copy of the original, by Marcello Venusti, can be seen at the Capodimonte Museum of [[Naples]].
  
===Palazzo Farnese===
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Censorship always followed Michelangelo, once described as "inventor delle porcherie" ("inventor of obscenities," in the original Italian language referring to "pork things"). The infamous "fig-leaf campaign" of the Counter-Reformation, aiming to cover all representations of human genitals in paintings and sculptures, started with Michelangelo's works. To give two examples, marble statue of ''Cristo della Minerva'' in Rome was covered by a pan, as it remains today, and the statue of the naked child Jesus in ''Madonna of Bruges'' (The Church of Our Lady in Bruges, [[Belgium]]) remained covered for several decades.  
Work on the [[Palazzo Farnese, Rome|Palazzo Farnese]] was begun by [[Antonio da Sangallo the Younger]], who was commissioned by [[Pope Paul III]] [[Farnese]]. Michelangelo took over the works in [[1546]] after the death of Sangallo.
 
  
After the death of Julius II building was halted. His successor, Pope Paul III, appointed Michelangelo as chief architect following the death of Antonio de Sangallo in 1546. Michelangelo actually razed some sections of the church designed by Sangallo in keeping with the original design by St Peter's first architect, [[Donato Bramante]] (1444–1514). However the only elements built according to Michelangelo's designs are sections of the rear façade and the dome. After his death his student [[Giacomo della Porta]] continued with the unfinished portions of the church.
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In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed architect of [[St. Peter's Basilica]] in the [[Vatican]], and designed its dome. As St. Peter's was progressing there was concern that Michelangelo would pass away before the dome was finished. Once construction began on the lower part of the dome, the supporting ring, the whole design slowly came into being. There was no way to turn back.
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[[Image:Michelangelo tomb.JPG|thumb|Michelangelo's own tomb, at Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze, Florence]]
  
==Michelangelo the man==
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==Michelangelo the architect==
 +
===Capitoline Square===
 +
The Capitoline Square, designed by Michelangelo, was located on Rome's Capitoline Hill. Its shape, more a rhomboid than a square, was intended to counteract the effects of perspective.
  
Michelangelo, who was often arrogant with others and constantly dissatisfied with himself, saw art as originating from inner inspiration and from culture. In contradiction to the ideas of his rival, [[Leonardo da Vinci]], Michelangelo saw nature as an enemy that had to be overcome. The figures that he created are forceful and dynamic; each in its own space apart from the outside world. For Michelangelo, the job of the sculptor was to free the forms that were already inside the stone.  He believed that every stone had a sculpture within it, and that the work of sculpting was simply a matter of chipping away all that wasn't a part of the statue.
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===Laurentian Library===
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Around 1530 Michelangelo designed the Laurentian Library in Florence, attached to the church of San Lorenzo. He produced new styles such as pilasters, tapering thinner at the bottom, and a staircase with contrasting rectangular and curving forms.
  
Several [[anecdote]]s reveal that Michelangelo's skill, especially in sculpture, was greatly admired in his own time. It is said that when still a young apprentice, he had made a [[pastiche]] of a Roman statue (''[[Il Putto Dormiente]]'', the sleeping child or Cupid) of such beauty and perfection, that it was later sold in Rome as an ancient Roman original. In fact, he damaged the statue and buried it in order to fool the buyer, Cardinal Raffaele Riario. After the truth was revealed, the Cardinal later took this as proof of his skill and commissioned his ''Bacchus''. Another better-known anecdote claims that when finishing the Moses ([[San Pietro in Vincoli]], Rome), Michelangelo violently hit the knee of the statue with a hammer, shouting, "Why don't you speak to me?"
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===Palazzo Farnese===
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Work on the Palazzo Farnese in Rome was begun by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who was commissioned by Pope Paul III. Michelangelo took over the works in 1546 after the death of Sangallo.
  
==Relationships ==
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After the death of Julius II, construction was halted. His successor, Pope Paul III, appointed Michelangelo as chief architect following the death of Antonio de Sangallo in 1546. Michelangelo actually razed some sections of the church designed by Sangallo in keeping with the original design by St. Peter's first architect, [[Donato Bramante]] (1444–1514). However the only elements built according to Michelangelo's designs are sections of the rear façade and the dome. After his death, his student Giacomo della Porta continued with the unfinished portions of the church.
  
Fundamental to Michelangelo's art is his love of male beauty which attracted him both aesthetically and emotionally. Such feelings caused him great anguish, and he expressed the struggle between platonic ideals and carnal desire in his sculpture, drawing and his poetry, too, for among his other accomplishments Michelangelo was the great Italian lyric poet of the [16th century].
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==Michelangelo the man==
 
 
The sculptor loved a great many youths, many of whom posed for him. Some were of high birth, like the sixteen year old [[Cecchino dei Bracci]], whose death, only a year after their meeting in [[1543]], inspired the writing of forty eight funeral [[wiktionary:epigram|epigrams]]. Others were street wise and took advantage of the sculptor. [[Febbo di Poggio]], in [[1532]], peddled his charms — in answer to Michelangelo's love poem he asks for money. Earlier, [[Gherardo Perini]], in [[1522]], had stolen from him shamelessly.
 
 
 
His greatest male love was [[Tommaso dei Cavalieri]] (c. 1509–1587), who was 23 years old when Michelangelo met him in [[1532]], at the age of 57. Cavalieri was open to the older man's affection: ''I swear to return your love. Never have I loved a man more than I love you, never have I wished for a friendship more than I wish for yours.'' Cavalieri remained devoted to Michelangelo till his death.
 
 
 
Michelangelo dedicated to him over three hundred sonnets and [[wiktionary:madrigal|madrigals]], constituting the largest sequence of poems composed by him. Though some modern commentators assert that the relationship was merely a [[Platonic]] affection, the sonnets are the first large sequence of poems in any modern tongue addressed by one man to another, predating [[Shakespeare]]'s sonnets to his young friend by a good fifty years.
 
 
 
:''I feel as lit by fire a cold countenance''
 
:''That burns me from afar and keeps itself ice-chill;''
 
:''A strength I feel two shapely arms to fill''
 
:''Which without motion moves every balance.''
 
 
 
:::— (Michael Sullivan, translation)
 
 
 
The [[homoeroticism]] of Michelangelo's poetry was obscured when his grand nephew, Michelangelo the Younger, published an edition of the poetry in [[1623]] with the gender of pronouns changed. [[John Addington Symonds]] undid this change by translating the original sonnets into English and writing a two-volume biography, published in [[1893]].
 
 
 
Late in life, he also had a great love for the poet and noble widow [[Vittoria Colonna]], whom he met in Rome in 1536 or 1538. They wrote sonnets for each other and were in regular contact until she died, though many scholars note the intellectualized or spiritual quality of this passion.'
 
  
==See also==
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Michelangelo was often arrogant toward others and constantly dissatisfied with himself. His art originated from deep inner inspiration and drive as well as culture. In contradiction to the ideas of his rival, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo saw nature as an enemy that had to be overcome. The figures that he created are forceful and dynamic; each in its own space apart from the outside world. For Michelangelo, the job of the sculptor was to free the forms that were already inside the stone. He believed that every stone had a sculpture within it, and that the work of sculpting was simply a matter of chipping away all that wasn't a part of the statue.
  
*[[List of works by Michelangelo]]
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For Michelangelo, his life was a seemingly endless struggle between fulfilling commissions to earn money to help support himself, his aging father, and other family members, and having time to pursue the artistic ideas and passions that were in his heart and mind. It is hard to imagine that the artist who created the magnificent fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel felt frustrated to be painting, having been taken away from the sculptural work he was most devoted to.
*[[Cappella Paolina]]
 
*[[Sistine Chapel ceiling]]
 
*[[List of painters]]
 
*[[List of Italian painters]]
 
*[[List of famous Italians]]
 
 
 
Entities named after Michelangelo include the asteroid [[3001 Michelangelo]] and the ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' character [[Michelangelo (TMNT)|Michelangelo]]. A more comprehensive list is at the disambiguation page for ''[[Michelangelo (disambiguation)|Michelangelo]]''.
 
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
<div class="references-small">
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*Ackerman, James S. ''The Architecture of Michelangelo.'' Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986. ISBN 0226002403
<references/>
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*Baldini, Umberto. ''The Sculpture of Michelangelo.'' With photography by Liberto Perugi.  NY: Rizzoli, 1982. ISBN 084780447X
</div>
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* Hart, Michael H. ''The 100.'' Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1992. ISBN 0806513500
 
+
*Néret, Gilles. ''Michelangelo.'' Köln: Taschen, 2004. ISBN 3822882720
==Further reading==
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*Stone, Irving. ''The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo.'' NY: Signet Book, 1987. ISBN 0-451-17135-7
{{wikiquote}}
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*Tolnay, Charles De. ''Michelangelo: Sculptor, Painter, Architect.'' Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975. ISBN 0691038767
*Umberto Baldini, (photography Liberto Perugi), ''The Sculpture of Michelangelo'' (Rizzoli, 1982) is an excellent work with many fine photos, all in black and white.
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*Tolnay, Charles De "Beiträge zu den späten Architechtonischen Projekten Michwelangelos," in ''Jahrbuch der Preussischen Kunstsammlungen'' 1930: 26. Noted in ''Space, Time and Architecture,'' by Siegfried Giedion. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962.
* [[Michael H. Hart]], ''[[The 100]]'', Carol Publishing Group, July 1992, paperback, 576 pages, ISBN 0-8065-1350-0
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* [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0859614.html “Michaelangelo.”] ''Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia,'' 6th ed. Columbia University Press, 2006. Retrieved May 24, 2007.
*Charles De Tolnay, ''Michelangelo: Scultor, Painter, Architect''. Princeton University Press, 1975, page 119.
 
*Charles de Tolnay, "Beiträge zu den späten Architechtonischen Projekten Michwelangelos," in ''Jahrbuch der Preussischen Kunstsammlungen'' 1930, p.26 noted in [[Siegfried Giedion]], ''Space, Time and Architecture'' 1962.
 
*[[Irving Stone]], ''[[The Agony and the Ecstasy (novel)|The Agony and the Ecstasy]]: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo''  Publisher: Signet Book, paperback: 776 pages, ISBN 0-451-17135-7
 
*James S. Ackerman, ''The Architecture of Michelangelo''. The University of Chicago Press, 1986.
 
*Gilles Néret, ''Michelangelo''. [[Taschen]], 2004, 94 pages.
 
* http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0859614.html The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2006, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
 
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
{{commons|Category:Michelangelo Buonarroti|Michelangelo}}
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All links retrieved November 9, 2022.
*[http://www.catholicity.com/encyclopedia/m/michaelangelo_buonarroti.html Michelangelo Buonarroti - ''Catholic Encyclopedia'']
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*[http://www.catholicity.com/encyclopedia/m/michaelangelo_buonarroti.html Michelangelo Buonarroti] - ''Catholic Encyclopedia''  
*[http://www.compart-multimedia.com/virtuale/us/florence/michelangelo_david.htm Michelangelo's David in Florence] virtual reality movie and pictures  
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*[http://www.compart-multimedia.com/virtuale/us/florence/michelangelo_david.htm Michelangelo's David in Florence] movie and pictures.
*[http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/michelangelo1.html Michelangelo in the "A World History of Art"]
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*[http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/michelangelo1.html Michelangelo in the "A World History of Art"]  
*[http://www.abcgallery.com/M/michelangelo/michelangelo.html Michelangelo at Olga's Gallery]
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*[http://www.abcgallery.com/M/michelangelo/michelangelo.html Michelangelo at Olga's Gallery]
 
*[http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/michel/michel.html Photographs of details at the Campidoglio]
 
*[http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/michel/michel.html Photographs of details at the Campidoglio]
*{{cite web|url=http://michelangelo.com/buonarroti.html|
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*[http://gilbertwesleypurdy.blogspot.com/2005/02/how-filled-with-joy-happy-and-well.html How Filled with Joy, Happy and Well-Informed...] A sonnet by Michelangelo. Translated by Gilbert Wesley Purdy.  
title=Michelangelo Buonarroti Website|
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*[http://gilbertwesleypurdy.blogspot.com/2005/07/to-return-there-where-once-appeared.html To return there where once appeared before…] A sonnet by Michelangelo. Translated by Gilbert Wesley Purdy.  
work=Neil R. Bonner, ed., [[14 December]] [[2001]], Michelangelo.COM, Inc.|
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*[http://www.michelangelomodels.com Models Michelangelo] Models Michelangelo used to make his paintings and sculptures.
accessyear=2005|accessdate=March 8}}<!-- not as per Chicago Manual of Style but best I can think of —>
 
*[http://www.scultura-italiana.com/Galleria/Michelangelo/index.html Photo Gallery of Works]
 
*[http://www.boheme-magazine.net/php/modules.php?name=News&amp;file=article&amp;sid=669 "The Michelangelo Code"], suggesting Michelangelo's coded use of his knowledge of anatomy
 
*{{gutenberg author| id=Michelangelo+Buonarroti | name=Michelangelo Buonarroti}}
 
*[http://cafesiena.blogspot.com/2005/08/most-famous-work-of-art.html A Most Famous Work of Art]MOVIE [http://cafesiena.dreamhosters.com/A%20Most%20Famous%20Work%20of%20Art.mov Quicktime ]Or[http://cafesiena.dreamhosters.com/a_most_famous.wmv Windows]
 
*[http://www.kids-iq-tests.com/famous-people/Michelangelo.htm Kids IQ Test Center]A nice essay on Michalangelo.
 
*[http://gilbertwesleypurdy.blogspot.com/2005/02/how-filled-with-joy-happy-and-well.html How Filled with Joy, Happy and Well-Informed...] A sonnet by Michelangelo. Translated by Gilbert Wesley Purdy.
 
*[http://gilbertwesleypurdy.blogspot.com/2005/07/to-return-there-where-once-appeared.html To return there where once appeared before…] A sonnet by Michelangelo. Translated by Gilbert Wesley Purdy.
 
*[http://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/mich/ The Digital Michelangelo Project]
 
*[http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/michelangelo/ The BP Special Exhibition Michelangelo Drawings - closer to the master]
 
*[http://www.zipser.nl/michelangelo1.html Michelangelo's Drawings: Real or Fake?] How to decide if a drawing is by Michelangelo?
 
*[http://www.michelangelomodels.com Models Michelangelo]Models Michelangelo used to make his paintings and sculptures
 
 
 
{{Persondata
 
|NAME=Michelangelo
 
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Buonarroti, Michelangelo; Buonarroti, Michelangelo di Lodovico
 
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=Sculptor, painter and architect
 
|DATE OF BIRTH=[[March 6]], [[1475]]
 
|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Caprese Michelangelo|Caprese]], [[Italy]]
 
|DATE OF DEATH=[[February 18]], [[1564]]
 
|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Rome]], [[Italy]]
 
}}
 
 
 
[[Category:History and biography]]
 
[[category:Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]]
 
  
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[[category:artists]]
 
{{credit|85530121}}
 
{{credit|85530121}}

Latest revision as of 17:11, 9 November 2022


Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
Michelango Portrait by Volterra.jpg
Chalk portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra
Born
March 6, 1475
near Arezzo, in Caprese, Tuscany
Died
February 18, 1564

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (March 6, 1475 – February 18, 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. His versatility, accomplishment, and artistic mastery were so commanding that he is often considered the archetypal Renaissance Man, along with his rival and fellow Florentine, Leonardo da Vinci.

Michelangelo's output in every field during his long life was prodigious. When the sheer volume of correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences that survive is taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the sixteenth century. Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and the David, were sculpted in his late twenties to early thirties. Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential fresco paintings in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in Rome and The Last Judgment on the chapel's altar wall. Later in life, he designed the dome of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican and revolutionized classical architecture with his invention of the giant order of pilasters.

In his lifetime, Michelangelo was often called Il Divino ("the divine one"), an appropriate sobriquet given his intense spirituality. His statue of David is testimony to the beauty of God's creation, even though the artist saw the raw material of inert stone as an obstacle to be mastered, a vault from which the sculptor laboriously released the work of art. One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur. It was attempts by subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo's impassioned and highly personal style that resulted in the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance, Mannerism.

Unique for a Renaissance artist, two biographies were published of Michelangelo during his lifetime. Biographer Giorgio Vasari called his work the pinnacle of all artistic achievement since the beginning of the Renaissance. This viewpoint was upheld in art history for centuries. Michelangelo died in 1564, the year of the birth of Galileo and William Shakespeare.

Early life

Bust of Michelangelo on the roof of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome

Michelangelo was born in 1475 near Arezzo, in Caprese, Tuscany. His father, Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarotti di Simoni, was the resident magistrate in Caprese and podestà of Chiusi. His mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena. Genealogies of the day indicated that the Buonarroti descended from Countess Matilda of Tuscany, so the family was considered minor nobility. Even so, the family was far from rich. Lodovico struggled financially and definitely hoped for the day when Michelangelo would contribute an income to help with the family obligations.

Michelangelo was raised in Florence. Later, during his mother's prolonged illness and following her death, he lived with a stonecutter and his wife and family in the town of Settignano where his father owned a marble quarry and a small farm. From a young age, he loved the feel of marble beneath his fingers and felt at home while working it. Michelangelo once said to Giorgio Vasari, the biographer of artists, "What little good I have within me came from the pure air of your native Arezzo and the chisels and hammers I sucked from my mother's milk."

Michelangelo devoted a period to grammar studies with the humanist Francesco d'Urbino. After a time, and in defiance of his father's wishes, Michelangelo chose to continue his apprenticeship in painting with Domenico Ghirlandaio, a well known painter, and in sculpture with Bertoldo di Giovanni. On June 28, 1488 he signed a contract for three years with Ghirlandaio. Lodovico tried to insist that his son take up a more practical and lucrative profession and was not averse to using harsh treatment and words to get his way. Michelangelo was driven from deep within. When Lodovico was unable to persuade or force him, amazingly, Lodovico was able to get Ghirlandaio to pay the young artist, which was unheard of at the time. In fact, most apprentices paid their masters for the education.

Impressed by Michelangelo's talent and work ethic, Ghirlandaio recommended him to the head of the ruling Medici family, Lorenzo de' Medici. After leaving Ghirlandaio in 1489, Michelangelo dedicated himself to his studies at Lorenzo's school from 1490 to 1492. There, he was influenced by many prominent people who modified and expanded his ideas on art, following the dominant Platonic view of the age. During this period, Michelangelo met literary personalities Pico della Mirandola, Angelo Poliziano, and Marsilio Ficino.

In this period Michelangelo finished Madonna of the Steps (1490–1492) and Battle of the Centaurs (1491–1492). 'Centaurs' was based on a theme suggested by Poliziano and was commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici. Michelangelo had become like a son to Lorenzo. After Lorenzo's death on April 8, 1492, Michelangelo quit the Medici court.

In the following months he produced a Wooden Crucifix (1493), as a thanksgiving gift to the prior of the church of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito who had permitted him some studies of anatomy on the corpses of the church's hospital. Between 1493 and 1494 he bought the marble for a larger than life statue of Hercules, which was sent to France and disappeared sometime in the 1700s.

He entered the Medici court again on January 20, 1494. Piero de Medici commissioned a snow statue from him. But that year, the Medici were expelled from Florence after the Savonarola rise. Michelangelo stayed in Florence for awhile, in a small room underneath San Lorenzo that can still be visited to this day. In this room, there are charcoal sketches still on the walls of various images that Michelangelo drew from memory. Michelangelo left Florence before the end of the political upheaval. He moved to Venice and then to Bologna.

In Bologna, he was commissioned to finish the carving of the last small figures of the tomb and shrine of St. Dominic.

After nearly a year away, he returned to Florence at the end of 1494. But he soon fled again to escape the turmoil and the menace of the French invasion. He was in his home city of Florence again between the end of 1495 and June of 1496. Michelangelo was touched by Friar Savonarola's preaching, moral severity, and his vision of renovation of the Roman Church.

A marble Cupid by Michelangelo was fraudulently sold to Cardinal Raffaele Riario as an ancient piece in 1496. The prelate found out that it was a fraud, but was so impressed by the quality of the sculpture that he invited the artist to Rome, where he arrived on June 26, 1496. On July 4, Michelangelo started to carve a larger than-life-size statue of the Roman wine god, Bacchus, commissioned by the banker Jacopo Galli for his garden.

Subsequently, in November of 1497, the French ambassador in the Holy See commissioned one of his most famous works, the Pietà. The contemporary opinion about this work — “a revelation of all the potentialities and force of the art of sculpture” — was summarized by Vasari: “It is certainly a miracle that a formless block of stone could ever have been reduced to a perfection that nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh.”

Though he devoted himself only to sculpture during his first stay in Rome, Michelangelo continued his daily practice of drawing. In Rome, Michelangelo lived near the church of Santa Maria di Loreto. Here, according to legend, he fell in love with Vittoria Colonna, marquise of Pescara and a poet.

The house Michelangelo lived in during this time was demolished in 1874. The remaining architectural elements saved by new proprietors were destroyed in 1930. Today a modern reconstruction of Michelangelo's house can be seen on Gianicolo hill.

Michelangelo's Pietà was carved in 1499, when the sculptor was just 24 years old.

Michelangelo returned to Florence from 1499–1501. Things were changing in the city after the fall of Savonarola and the rise of the gonfaloniere Pier Soderini. He was proposed by the consuls of the Guild of Wool to complete a project started 40 years before by Agostino di Duccio that had never materialized: a colossal statue portraying David as a symbol of Florentine freedom, to be placed in the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. Michelangelo responded to the commissioning by completing his most famous work, David in 1504. This masterwork definitively established his fame as sculptor for his extraordinary technical skill and the strength of his symbolic imagination. The sculpture of David stands in the Academy in Florence. Indeed it is a stunning depiction of David, larger than life, so strong and handsome, as he contemplates his approaching confrontation with Goliath. The giant sculpture is so flawless that it is hard to imagine that it emerged from marble with the help of human hands.

Also during this period, Michelangelo painted the Holy Family and St. John, also known as the Doni Tondo or the Holy Family of the Tribune. It was commissioned for the marriage of Angelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi. In the seventeenth century, the painting hung in the room known as the Tribune in the Uffizi. He also may have painted the Madonna and Child with John the Baptist, known as the Manchester Madonna and now in the National Gallery, London.

Under Pope Julius II in Rome: the Sistine Chapel ceiling

Michelangelo was invited back to Rome in 1503 by the newly appointed Pope Julius II and was commissioned to build the Pope's tomb. Under the patronage of Julius II, Michelangelo constantly had to stop work on the tomb to accomplish numerous other tasks. Due to interruptions, Michelangelo worked on the tomb for 40 years without finishing it. One interruption was the commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took four years to complete (1508 – 1512). According to Michelangelo's account, Bramante and Raphael convinced the Pope to commission Michelangelo in a medium not familiar to the artist, to divert him from his preference for sculpture into fresco painting, so that unfavorable comparisons with his rival Raphael would be made. However, this story is heavily discounted by modern historians and contemporary evidence, and may merely have reflected his suspicions, as he grappled with frustration over being separated from his beloved marble.

Michelangelo was employed by Pope Julius II to paint the 12 Apostles on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but protested for a different scheme. Eventually he completed the work with over 300 Biblical figures in a composition. His figures showed the creation of Man, the creation of Woman, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the drunkenness of Noah and the Great Flood. Around the windows he painted the ancestors of Christ. On the pendentives supporting the ceiling he alternated seven Prophets of Israel with five sibyls, female prophets of the classical world, with Jonah over the altar. On the highest section, Michelangelo painted nine episodes from the Book of Genesis. His drive to manifest what he imagined ruled him.

Under Medici Popes in Florence

In 1513 Pope Julius II died. His successor Pope Leo X, a Medici, commissioned Michelangelo to reconstruct the façade of the Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze in Florence and to adorn it with sculptures. Michelangelo agreed reluctantly. The three years he spent creating drawings and models for the façade, as well as attempting to open a new marble quarry at Pietrasanta for the project, were among the most frustrating in his career. Work was abruptly cancelled by his financially strapped patrons before any real progress had been made. The basilica lacks a façade to this day.

Apparently not the least embarrassed by this, the Medici later came back to Michelangelo with another grand proposal, for a family funerary chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo. Fortunately for posterity, this project, occupying the artist for much of the 1520s and 1530s, was more fully realized. Though still incomplete, it is the best example of the integration of the artist's sculptural and architectural vision. Michelangelo created both the major sculptures and the interior plan. Ironically, the most prominent tombs are those of two rather obscure Medici who died young, a son and grandson of Lorenzo. Lorenzo de' Medici, Il Magnifico is buried in an obscure corner of the chapel, without the free-standing monument that had been planned.

Michelangelo's The Last Judgement. Saint Bartholomew is shown holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin. The face of the skin is recognizable as Michelangelo.

In 1527, the Florentine citizens, encouraged by the sack of Rome, threw out the Medici and restored the republic. A siege of the city ensued. Michelangelo went to the aid of his beloved Florence by working on the city's fortifications from 1528 to 1529. The city fell in 1530 and the Medici family rule was restored to power. Completely out of sympathy with the repressive reign of the ducal Medici, Michelangelo left Florence for good in the mid-1530s, leaving assistants to complete the Medici chapel. Years later his body was brought back from Rome for interment at the Basilica di Santa Croce, fulfilling the maestro's last request to be buried in his beloved Tuscany.

Michelangelo designed the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, although it was unfinished when he died.

Last works in Rome

The fresco of The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Paul III. Michelangelo labored on the project from 1534 to October 1541. The work is massive and spans the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. The Last Judgment is a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse; where the souls of humanity rise and are assigned to their various fates, as judged by Christ, surrounded by the Saints.

The depictions of nakedness in the papal chapel were considered obscene and sacrilegious. Cardinal Carafa and Monsignor Sernini Mantua's ambassador campaigned to have the fresco removed or censored, but the Pope resisted. After Michelangelo's death, it was decided to obscure the genitals ("Pictura in Cappella Ap.ca coopriantur"). So Daniele da Volterra, an apprentice of Michelangelo, was commissioned to cover the genitals with perizomas (briefs), leaving the complex of bodies unaltered. When the work was restored in 1993, the restorers did not remove all the perizomas. Some were left as a historical document. Also, some of Michelangelo’s work had been tragically scraped away when the perizomas had been installed. A faithful uncensored copy of the original, by Marcello Venusti, can be seen at the Capodimonte Museum of Naples.

Censorship always followed Michelangelo, once described as "inventor delle porcherie" ("inventor of obscenities," in the original Italian language referring to "pork things"). The infamous "fig-leaf campaign" of the Counter-Reformation, aiming to cover all representations of human genitals in paintings and sculptures, started with Michelangelo's works. To give two examples, marble statue of Cristo della Minerva in Rome was covered by a pan, as it remains today, and the statue of the naked child Jesus in Madonna of Bruges (The Church of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium) remained covered for several decades.

In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed architect of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, and designed its dome. As St. Peter's was progressing there was concern that Michelangelo would pass away before the dome was finished. Once construction began on the lower part of the dome, the supporting ring, the whole design slowly came into being. There was no way to turn back.

Michelangelo's own tomb, at Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze, Florence

Michelangelo the architect

Capitoline Square

The Capitoline Square, designed by Michelangelo, was located on Rome's Capitoline Hill. Its shape, more a rhomboid than a square, was intended to counteract the effects of perspective.

Laurentian Library

Around 1530 Michelangelo designed the Laurentian Library in Florence, attached to the church of San Lorenzo. He produced new styles such as pilasters, tapering thinner at the bottom, and a staircase with contrasting rectangular and curving forms.

Palazzo Farnese

Work on the Palazzo Farnese in Rome was begun by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, who was commissioned by Pope Paul III. Michelangelo took over the works in 1546 after the death of Sangallo.

After the death of Julius II, construction was halted. His successor, Pope Paul III, appointed Michelangelo as chief architect following the death of Antonio de Sangallo in 1546. Michelangelo actually razed some sections of the church designed by Sangallo in keeping with the original design by St. Peter's first architect, Donato Bramante (1444–1514). However the only elements built according to Michelangelo's designs are sections of the rear façade and the dome. After his death, his student Giacomo della Porta continued with the unfinished portions of the church.

Michelangelo the man

Michelangelo was often arrogant toward others and constantly dissatisfied with himself. His art originated from deep inner inspiration and drive as well as culture. In contradiction to the ideas of his rival, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo saw nature as an enemy that had to be overcome. The figures that he created are forceful and dynamic; each in its own space apart from the outside world. For Michelangelo, the job of the sculptor was to free the forms that were already inside the stone. He believed that every stone had a sculpture within it, and that the work of sculpting was simply a matter of chipping away all that wasn't a part of the statue.

For Michelangelo, his life was a seemingly endless struggle between fulfilling commissions to earn money to help support himself, his aging father, and other family members, and having time to pursue the artistic ideas and passions that were in his heart and mind. It is hard to imagine that the artist who created the magnificent fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel felt frustrated to be painting, having been taken away from the sculptural work he was most devoted to.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Ackerman, James S. The Architecture of Michelangelo. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986. ISBN 0226002403
  • Baldini, Umberto. The Sculpture of Michelangelo. With photography by Liberto Perugi. NY: Rizzoli, 1982. ISBN 084780447X
  • Hart, Michael H. The 100. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group, 1992. ISBN 0806513500
  • Néret, Gilles. Michelangelo. Köln: Taschen, 2004. ISBN 3822882720
  • Stone, Irving. The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo. NY: Signet Book, 1987. ISBN 0-451-17135-7
  • Tolnay, Charles De. Michelangelo: Sculptor, Painter, Architect. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975. ISBN 0691038767
  • Tolnay, Charles De "Beiträge zu den späten Architechtonischen Projekten Michwelangelos," in Jahrbuch der Preussischen Kunstsammlungen 1930: 26. Noted in Space, Time and Architecture, by Siegfried Giedion. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962.
  • “Michaelangelo.” Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Columbia University Press, 2006. Retrieved May 24, 2007.

External links

All links retrieved November 9, 2022.

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