Michelangelo was an Italian artist, considered one of the great representatives of the Rebirth during the 16th century. Throughout his life, he worked as a sculptor, painter, architect and even an amateur poet, but his great passion of Michelangelo was sculpture, through which part of his main works were performed.
Among the outstanding works produced by Michelangelo in the field of sculpture are pietà, from 1499, and David, produced between 1501 and 1504. In the field of painting, the frescoes he produced on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, at the request of Pope Julius II, between 1508 and 1511 stand out.
Read too: Leonardo da Vinci — another of the leading artists of the Renaissance
Topics of this article
- 1 - Summary about Michelangelo
- 2 - Birth and childhood of Michelangelo
- 3 - Michelangelo's entry into the arts
- 4 - Characteristics of Michelangelo's art
- 5 - Main works of Michelangelo
- 6 - Death of Michelangelo
Summary about Michelangelo
Michelangelo was an Italian artist known for being one of the greats of the Renaissance.
He was a sculptor, painter, architect and amateur poet. Michelangelo, however, preferred the sculpture.
He was born into the Buonarroti family, a family of good financial condition. Furthermore, he was financed for years by the Medici in Florence.
pietà It is David are Michelangelo's best-known sculptures.
The ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel are this artist's most popular paintings.
Birth and Childhood of Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born in caprese, na Italy, on March 6, 1475. He was the son of Ludovico di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni and Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena, and had four brothers, named Lionardo, Buonarroto, Giovansimone and Gismondo.
The Buonarroti family was considered a family of aristocracy at Peninsula Italica, possessing great wealth from the business and its role as a banker. However, the family business had declined, and when Michelangelo was born, the family finances were in bad shape, during which time his father worked as administrator of Caprese and Chiusi della Verna.
A few months after his birth, Michelangelo was taken to Florence, the city where his family moved. Michelangelo's childhood was marked by the death of his mother in 1481. Another striking fact of Michelangelo's childhood was the your appreciation for Art, which was not looked upon favorably by his family., especially by his father.
Do not stop now... There's more after the publicity ;)
Michelangelo's Entry into the Arts
At the age of 13, Michelangelo he was sent by his father to study art with a renowned painter from Florence named Domenico Ghirlandaio. Reports say that Michelangelo's relationship with his tutor was not very good, supposedly because Ghirlandaio was jealous of the young artist's talent. It is also said that Michelangelo had a personality understood as difficult.
Michelangelo's talent caught the attention of the Medici, the richest and most powerful family in Florence and famous for acting as patrons of countless local artists. The Médici's performance was important and allowed several artists to dedicate all their time to the arts, which contributed to the city of Florence being recognized as one of the great centers of Rebirth.
From 1490 onwards, Michelangelo studied at the Florentine Neoplatonic Academy, a renowned institution that trained countless humanist intellectuals in the 15th and 16th centuries. Under the tutelage of the Medici, Michelangelo was able to broaden his knowledge and dedicate himself fully to his development as an artist.
During this period, he resided in the Medici Palace and decided to follow the path of sculpture, an area of the arts for which he had more appreciation. Michelangelo's development as a sculptor also involved the participation of Bertoldo di Giovanni, a sculptor who worked for the Medici. Two works by Michelangelo stand out from this period: Madonna of the Stairs (1490) and Battle of Centaurs (1492).
See too: Baroque — artistic movement of Italian origin that suffered great religious influence
Features of Michelangelo's Art
Between the years 1492 and 1496, Michelangelo resided in Florence, Bologna and Venice, and in all these places he devoted himself to the arts, especially sculpture. One of the most outstanding works of this period was Hercules, a sculpture made of marble that was sold to the king of France, but which disappeared sometime in the 18th century.
Michelangelo's style was heavily influenced by classical culture, in addition to to contain a technique called disegno, which was characterized by building the artistic work based on a sketch idealized by the artist.
In 1496, Michelangelo moved to Rome and there became one of the renaissance artists best known of all time. In Rome, he was able to expand his knowledge of classical art and architecture, producing some of his best-known works during the period he was in the city.
Read too: Mona Lisa — history, theories and even the theft that involves Leonardo da Vinci's most famous work
Michelangelo's main works
One of Michelangelo's best-known works made during his time in Rome was pietà, which depicts the Virgin Mary embracing Jesus dead, made by the artist in 1499. This sculpture was produced by Michelangelo through an order made by a French cardinal. The success of the work was immediate and contributed to popularize the name of Michelangelo.
In 1500, he returned to Florence, because he was invited by representatives of the cathedral of that city to carry out a work. Here, Michelangelo did what for many became his life's great work. the italian artist carved a block marble five meters tall and turned it into David.
This sculpture is 5.17 meters high, representing the biblical character David. The work would be placed as a decoration of the Cathedral of Florence, but it was considered an artistic work as perfect that it was decided that it would be placed in front of the Palace of the Priors, the seat of government of the city of Florence. This sculpture is currently in the Gallery of Fine Arts in Florence.
Michelangelo I also knew how to paint, thus created other works of art that became known. In 1503 he createdDoni Tondo, one painting in panel thatdepicted the Virgin Mary, Joseph and Jesus. This work was also commissioned and is the only finished painting by Michelangelo that has survived the test of time.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Michelangelo had some friction with Pope Julius II, because the pope had hired him to build some sculptures that would be placed in the tomb of the pontiff, but the lack of resources made Michelangelo abandon the work and return to Florence. In 1508, the pope even forced Michelangelo to carry out work for him, which were the frescoes on the ceiling of the Chapel sistina.
Michelangelo devoted himself to work between the years 1508 and 1511, delivering one of his greatest artistic works and making it clear that his talent was not limited to sculpture and that he was capable of creating great paintings. The paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are considered one of the greatest works of art in the West.
The frescoes in the Sistine Chapel depict scenes from the Old Testament, and one of the best-known paintings is the one that depicts God floating on a cloud with his arm and finger outstretched trying to reach Adam's finger. Michelangelo's work on the tomb of Julius II continued into the 1540s, and of the 40 planned statues, only seven were built.
Michelangelo's death
In addition to sculpture and painting, Michelangelo also dedicated himself to many works in the field of architecture, especially in Florence, where he was hired by the Medici to renovate buildings in the city. In addition, Michelangelo also devoted himself for years to writing poems. The artist died on the day February 18, 1564, being buried in a basilica located in Florence.
image credits
[1] Antoine Taveneaux/Wikimedia Commons
By Daniel Neves Silva
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