Michelangelo Buonarroti: A Master Sculptor and Artist of His Time

Who was Michelangelo Buonarroti? He was born at Carese in Tuscany on March 6th, 1475. At the age of thirteen he became an assistant toDomenico Ghirlandaio. After completing one year of his apprenticeship, Michelangelo was summoned by Lorenzo De' Medici. Which led to his path of learning the secrets of sculpting. He taught himself by making drawings of the statues and then trying to recreate them in clay.

Michelangelo was in association with the most brilliant thinkers, artists, and writers of his time. Michelangelo was an artist, sculptor, architect, and produced poems and letters. He became deeply influenced by religion and this inspired him to produce some of his art. At the age of 16 he had produced what he called, "Madonna of the Steps." Also the "Battle of Hercules with the Centaurs" was another work produced around that same time. Michelangelo was influenced by the works of the old masters like Masaccio and Giotto. He practiced his skills by copying the famous frescoes from some of these old masters. Other works were drawn from old statuary. Here are some of my favorite works of Michelangelo.

Pieta, St. Peter's labeled Michelangelo as a master sculptor. Pieta stands in St. Peters on a pedestal and is a scene in which the Virgin Mary supports the dead body of Jesus in her lap.

Sistine Chapel Ceilingis an overwhelming masterpiece. Michelangelo gave into the popes wishes and accepted the commission of the job in 1508. He created framework to link the different frescoes together with the real architecture of the chapel. One of my favorites from this chain of frescoes is "The Creation of Adam." The scale of this work is larger than in the proceeding panels next to it. His objective for this piece was to increase the size of the figures. Plus he wished to decrease the detail, rendering the painting more impressive and shocking to the observers.

Michelangelo lived for almost 89 years. He died February 18,1564 of a slow fever. He continued working up to six days before his death. He spent several of his last years traveling. In Rome is where his life ended. He was originally buried at the Church of Saint Apostoli. However, after his burial his body was secretly reclaimed and took back to Florence by Lionardo Buonarroti, who was his nephew. Michelangelo laid to rest in the Church of Santa Croce. He remains there in a marble tomb designed by Vasari. The tomb shows a bust of Michelangelo. Written below are scriptures of three sad women saying architecture, painting, and sculpture.