| Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475–1564, Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, b. Caprese, Tuscany.
Early Life and Work
Michelangelo drew extensively as a child, and his father placed him under the tutelage of Ghirlandaio, a
respected artist of the day. After one unproductive year, Michelangelo became the student of Bertoldo
di Giovanni, a sculptor employed by the Medici family. From 1490 to 1492, Michelangelo lived in Florence with the
Medicis. He learned to paint and sculpt more by
observation than by tutelage. Michelangelo was known to be extremely sensitive, and he combined an excess of energy with an excess of talent.
Painting
Michelangelo showed mastery of the human figure. His Doni Tondo (c.1504), a
significant early work, shows both balance and energy; influence by Leonardo da Vinci is clear. When plans for the construction of the tomb of Pope Julius II were forestalled, Michelangelo left Florence.
The artist was recalled to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He placed 12 figures about the ceiling's edge; originally these figures were to represent the 12 apostles of Christ. Finally, Michelangelo painted seven prophets and five sybils. Within the ring of prophets and sybils were nine panels on Biblical world history. Three panels were devoted to the Creation, three to the story of Adam and Eve, and three to the story of Noah and the great flood. At the rear of the chapel Michelangelo painted The Last
Judgment (1534), considered by many to be his masterwork. The painting depicts Christ's damnation
of sinners and blessing of the virtuous, along with the resurrection of the dead and the portage of souls to
hell by Charon.
Sculpture
Michelangelo's earliest sculpture was made in the Medici garden near the church of San Lorenzo; his
Bacchus and Sleeping Cupid both show the results of careful observation of the classical sculptures
located in the garden. Throughout Michelangelo's sculpted work one finds both a
sensitivity to mass and a command of unmanageable chunks of marble. His Pietà places the body of
Christ in the lap of the Virgin Mother; the artist's force and majestic style are balanced by the sadness
and humility in Mary's gaze.
In 1504 he sculpted David in a classical style, giving him a perfectly proportioned body and musculature In 1505 Michelangelo was offered a commission for the design and sculpting of the tomb of Pope Julius II. Because of various complications, the tomb was reduced drastically in size. Michelangelo made only one figure for the tomb, Moses, his last major sculpture. The artist made the statue from a block of marble deemed unmalleable by earlier sculptors; his final product conveys his own skill for demonstration of mass within stone and a sense of Moses' anguish.
Bibliography:
See David Summers, Michelangelo and the Language of Art (1981); R. S. Liebert, Michelangelo: A Psychoanalytic Study of His Life and Images (1983); and Michael Hirst, Michelangelo and His Drawings (1988).
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