Michelangelo

Date

Michelangelo:Information

• Born in Caprese– “Son of Florence”

• Born: March 6th, 1475• Michelangelo di Lodovico

Buonarroti Simoni• Italian Renaissance

– Painter, sculptor, architect and poet

• Considered master of representing the human body

Early Life:Family Information

• Comes from a family of bankers• One of 5 sons• Father was in government• Mother died when he was young

– Afterwards, lived with a stonecutter and his wife and family in Settignano

– Strong influence on sculpture

• Affinity for the arts– “Artists are laborers, no better than shoemakers.”

Early Life: School

• Father sent him to study grammar

• At 13, he apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio– Learned “fresco”

• At 14, studied sculpture at the Medici garden– Ruler of Florence– Joined famiglia

• Began getting commissions

Domenico Ghirlandaio

• Began studying anatomy– Corpses

• Created the Wooden Crucifix

Professional Life:Battle of the Centaurs

• Earliest sculpture at 17

• Simple, solid forms

• Squarish proportion of figures

Rome• Medici died in 1492

– Fell from power

• Found his way to Rome• Bacchus

– God of wine– Earliest surviving large-

scale sculpture– Viewed from all sides

Firenze

• Most talented sculptor of central Italia

• David– Heroic courage– Piazza della Signoria

• http://www.italyguides.it/us/florence/michelangelo_david.htm

David

Sistine Chapel

• Commissioned by Pope Julius II– Repaint the ceiling

• Hesitant at first

• 1508-1512

Sistine Chapel:Content

• Prophets• Dramatic• Original

framing system

• 9 stories from Genesis Separation of Light and Darkness

"After four tortured years, more than 400 over life-sized figures, I felt as old and as weary as Jeremiah. I was only 37, yet friends did not recognize the old man I had become."

LastJudgment

• End wall of Sistine Chapel– Directed by Christ– Largest fresco

• Angels pushing damned down and pulling saved up from hell

Issues

• Target of criticism– ”It was mostly disgraceful that in so

sacred a place there should have been depicted all those nude figures, exposing themselves so shamefully, and that it was no work for a papal chapel but rather for the public baths and taverns."

• Retaliation– Biaggio (Master of Ceremonies)

• Draperies added

Final Works

• Devoted himself to architecture and poetry

• Created two pietas (both unfinished)

1) Rondanini Pieta

2) For his own tombRondanini Pieta

Michelangelo• Art originates from inner

inspiration and culture– Masculinity

• Saw nature as an enemy• Solitary/melancholy• Bisexual

– Poetry– Vittoria Colonna

His Death• Died: February 18, 1564

– 89 Years Old

• Fever• Will

– Soul to God– Body to Earth– Material possessions to his nearest

relations

• Buried in Florence– “Father and master

of all the arts”