Michealangelo Buonarroti

Michelangelo’s Life
- Born March 6, 1475 in Caprese, Italy
- named Michealangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
- Mother died when he was six
- Grew up without affection
- Father wanted him to be a merchant

When I told my father that I wish to be an artist, he flew into a rage, “artists are laborers, no better than shoemakers.”

Michelangelo’s Youth
- Apprenticed at age 12 to painter in Florence
- Lived with ruling Medici family in their palace
- Started working as a sculptor under Donatello
- Sculpted Bacchus



Michelangelo wanted to learn about anatomy by studying corpses. The Catholic Church forbid it. He made an agreement with the Church that he could study bodies in return for a carved wooden crucifix. Studying bodies made him ill many times.


Pieta at Saint Peter's Basilica

Michelangelo was commissioned by the new republican government to carve a colossal David, symbol of resistance and independence. Arguably his most famous work, the statue would finally establish his reputation as a sculptor extraordinaire.


David


Two Fighters

Michelangelo did not want to paint. Pope Julius II insisted he paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It became Michelangelo’s greatest work. He painted scenes from the Old Testament.


The Sistine Chapel


The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel


God creates the Sun and Moon


The Face of God


God creates Adam


God creates Eve


Jacob and Joseph


David and Goliath


Jeremiah


Jonah


Joel


The Libyan Sybil


Ignudo


Isaiah


The Flood (detail)


The Fall of Man and Expulsion from Eden

Pope Julius II commissioned him to build a magnificent tomb. Michelangelo worked on it for years, but did not finish the 40 statues ordered.


Moses, the centerpiece of Pope Julius II’s tomb

Michelangelo was commissioned to make the tombs for the Medici family.

Statues of the Medici brothers

Pope Paul VII Farnese asked him to paint a fresco of the Last Judgment which would be the largest painting in the world at that time.

The Last Judgment



Michelangelo’s last years were spent chiseling a last pieta. He wrote his best poetry near the end of his life. He was buried in Florence, Italy.

Michelangelo died and his body was put in a sarcophagus in Rome. His nephew sneaked his body out of Rome and buried it in Florence where he wanted to be buried.


Conversion of Saint Paul


Crucifixion of Saint Peter


Saint Family (1504) Galeria degli Uffizi Florence