Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, or simply Michelangelo, was one of the preeminent artists of the Italian High Renaissance. He was a painter, poet, sculptor, and architect, though he preferred sculpture to all else. Michelangelo’s art mostly depicted nudes, as he saw the male form as the ultimate work of art. Along with Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, Michelangelo is seen as one of the great artists of the Italian High Renaissance masters.
Michelangelo was born in Italy in 1475 to a wealthier banking family who at first, did not let him pursue his art. They regarded the profession of an artist as a career beneath their class. However, due to his persistence in art and complete lack of interest in banking, at age 13, Michelangelo was finally allowed to do as he wished and starting apprenticing under a Florentine painter. After a year, he started apprenticing in the Medici sculpture garden under the very well-known artist of his day, Bertoldo di Giovanni. Soon after, the Catholic Church allowed Michelangelo to study the human anatomy using cadavers. The art world has been ever thankful.
By the young age of 16, Michelangelo was already a master. In additional to traditional art, Michelangelo was also an architect, having designed the Medici Chapel, the Laurential Library, and the architectural giant of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, amongst others. During his lifetime, Michelangelo was the most famous living artist and was the first artist who to have a biography about him published while he was still alive (actually, two biographies!). He was known for his brilliance in addition to his quick temper and unique personality. As a perfectionist, he was a tough artist to hire and work with.
Interestingly, Michelangelo had two famous heated rivalries during his lifetime that garnered much press, with fellow Italian artists Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Whereas da Vinci was social, friendly, well-dressed, and well-liked, Michelangelo preferred to be alone, was moody, dressed in his work clothes, and didn’t always get along well with others.
The amount of work that he did during his lifetime and the physical strains of it had a toll on his body, especially the work on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. He wrote, “I am here in great distress and with great physical strain, and have no friends of any kind, nor do I want them; and I do not have enough time to eat as much as I need; my joy and my sorrow/my repose are these discomforts.” Though he never married, he was devoted to a widow, Vittoria Colonna, and after her death, a young nobleman, Tommaso de’Cavalieri.
Michelangelo died in 1564 at 88 years of age. Some of Michelangelo’s best-known works include the sculptures, “David,” “Pieta,” and “The Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
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