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Michelangelo Facts and Information

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, more commonly known simply as Michelangelo, is considered one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Two of his most iconic works, his statue of David, and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, are among the most recognizable works of art in the world.

Michelangelo was born in Tuscany, Italy, in 1475, and is considered one of the architects of the Renaissance, which originated in Italy, and was one of the factors responsible for bringing the world from the Medieval era into the beginning of the Modern Age. Leonardo DaVinci, who was Michelangelo’s professional rival, is also considered one of the most important contributors to the Renaissance. The term “Renaissance Man” was coined to refer to men like DaVinci and Michelangelo, who shone in many diverse endeavors, including art, literature, and engineering.

Michelangelo was raised in Florence, Italy, but after his mother died at the age of six, he relocated to Settignano, where he lived with a stonecutter and his wife near a marble quarry owned by Michelangelo’s father. Before his death, Michelangelo had not one, but two biographies written about his life, and he commented to Giorgio Vasari, one of his biographers, that what talent he had in him he credited to growing up in the country and having early access to stoneworking tools.

Astoundingly, as he is perhaps most famous for his breathtaking work on the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo did not particularly appreciate or enjoy painting. After apprenticeships under noted painters and sculptors, he first gained attention as a sculptor, often producing works commissioned by the famous Medici clan. This association caused Michelangelo trouble throughout his life as the famous family notoriously fell in and out of favor, occasionally requiring Michelangelo to flee town as his patrons. Toward the end of his life, when the Medicis took over his home of Florence and he decided they had gone too far, Michelangelo voluntarily exiled himself to Rome.

Michelangelo’s first truly important work, both historically and at the time, was the commission of the statue that has come to be known as the Pietå, a statue of the Madonna holding her child, Jesus Christ, after he his death by crucifixion. The work was commissioned by the French Ambassador of the Holy See, and was completed in 1499, when Michelangelo was only 24. The statue depicts Christ’s mother, Mary, mourning over her son as he lies dead in her lap. The statue is currently located at St. Peter’s Basilica, in Vatican City, and it is noted for depicting a new standard of lifelikeness in sculpture.

Although far more famous for his works of art, Michelangelo, like DaVinci, was considered an architect and an engineer as well. Ironically, many of his works are located at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, the dome which he designed, but which was only completed after his death.

After a change in leadership in 1499, Michelangelo returned to Florence. He was consulted to finish a statue of the biblical hero David for display in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. The work had been started forty years before, by Agostino di Duccio, but all that had been done was the purchase and moving of a large block of marble, and some rough shaping. Michelangelo won the contract to complete the statue over DaVinci and several other artists, and began work on his David in September, 1501. He would work on the statue for almost three years.

Michelangelo’s David is unique in one particular respect: David had been portrayed many times previously by other artists, and was favored as not only a biblical hero, but also as a representation of Florentine ideals. However, while previous works, notably by Donatello, showed David after his victory over the giant Goliath, holding a sword in one hand, and the giant’s severed head in the other, Michelangelo’s David is unarmed and unadorned. According to Michelangelo himself, the statue portrays David in the very moment he decides to go to battle with the giant, and his pose and musculature capture him virtually as he is turning upon making his decision.

Ironically, the block of marble, as it stood unused and prey to the elements in a cathedral yard, became known to the locals as “The Giant,” because of its lack of form and its sheer size. The completed David still stands 17 feet tall.

In 1505, Michelangelo was invited to Rome under the newly elected Pope Julius II. He was initially commissioned to build the Pope’s tomb, in St. Peter’s Basilica, but Michelangelo was constantly interrupted with other jobs as he worked on the tomb for forty years, the rest of his life. The tomb, which contains another famous work of Michelangelo’s, his statue of Moses, was never finished to Michelangelo’s satisfaction, and is located not in Vatican City, but rather in Rome at the Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli.

Most notably Michelangelo was interrupted in his work on the tomb for four years from 1508 to 1512 to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It is not known specifically why Michelangelo was chosen to do the work, but the artist himself believed that it was because his contemporaries, Bramante and Raphael, convinced the Pope to force him to work in a medium he did not enjoy, to make them look better. This is generally disregarded by historians, as in many of his comments, Michelangelo, while being proud of his gifts, seemed to have something of a persecution complex.

The Sistine Chapel portrays, in a series of works, much of the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Michelangelo was initially commissioned simply to paint Christ’s 12 Apostles, but he decided that was too easy and instead wanted to portray the Creation and Fall of Man, which he did, including the creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Noah and the Flood, and many of Christ’s ancestors.

Throughout the later half of his life, after his completion of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo was frequently commissioned to do ambitious works, such as large chapels, tombs, and basilicas. Several of them were never finished, and nothing would rival his portrayal of David or his overwhelming work on the Sistine ceiling.

Toward the end of his life, Michelangelo returned to the Sistine Chapel to paint a fresco on the altar wall for Pope Clement VII. The work is massive in size and covers one entire wall of the Sistine Chapel. The work is called The Last Judgment and portrays the second coming of Christ and the accompanying apocalypse, where the souls of the dead rise and are judged by Christ and the Saints.

While all of Michelangelo’s most famous works are rooted in Catholicism, his works also reflect his being influenced by Platonic ideals. The philosophy described by Plato was one of the cornerstones of the Renaissance, with its value on art and discourse, humility and simplicity. While many around him lived life to the fullest, even at his most wealthy, Michelangelo lived like a poor man, which was actually considered rude by some of his contemporaries, especially those who had made him rich.

Michelangelo died in Rome in 1548, widely acknowledged as one of the most dynamic and important figures of the era. This contrasts greatly with the lives of many artists who struggle for acknowledgement during their lifetime. Upon Michelangelo’s request he was buried in his birthplace of Tuscany, interred at the Basilica di Santa Croce.

“The frescoes that we are contemplating here introduce us into the world of the contents of the Revelation. The truths of our faith speak to us here from all sides. From them human genius took its inspiration undertaking to clothe them in forms of incomparable beauty” – Pope John Paul II, 1984

When Michelangelo came to Rome in 1505 it was to design the tomb for Julius II, a project that would consume him off and on for 40 years. When Julius discontinued his tomb design the first time Michelangelo was greatly disappointed and, to appease him, Julius gave Michelangelo the commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo resisted the commission, saying painting was not his profession but Julius was a powerful man and Michelangelo finally agreed in hopes that the tomb project would be revived.

The ceiling, 5800 square feet and 70 feet above the ground presented enormous technical problems. Michelangelo devised his own scaffolding to reach the ceiling, attaching it to holes in the chapel wall that made it possible for services to continue below. The curve of the ceiling presented problems with perspective and, finally, Michelangelo was not at all familiar with fresco techniques.

Michelangelo struggled with the fresco technique the first few months and initially made mistakes that spoiled all he had done. Buon fresco was the technique employed at the time but it molded due to the high humidity. One of Michelangelo’s assistants devised a new mixture called intonaco which resisted mold and became the standard for all frescos.

Michelangelo also had trouble with the perspective and scale, which can be seen at the entrance to the chapel. The Drunkenness of Noah is crowded and lacks the simplicity of the later panels.

Taking his theme from creation, the fall and redemption of man spreads across the ceiling. Three hundred figures are depicted engaged in man’s ultimate struggle. A long corridor describing creation from Genesis runs along the crown of the vault. On either side where the vault curves down are the Hebrew prophets and sibyls who foreshadow the coming of Christ. At the four corners are Old Testament figures—David, Judith, Haman, and the Brazen Serpent.

Michelangelo shows his vision as a sculpture in the powerful representation of the human form that will be repeated in his work for the Medici Chapel. The figures of God and Adam in the Creation of Adam are men of the same race, both made of the same substance and both are gigantic.

Despite the enormity of the task, Michelangelo completed the Sistine Chapel in a mere four years. On the Feast of Saints (November 1) 1512, Pope Julius II inaugurated the chapel with a mass.

In 1981 the Vatican announced plans to restore Michelangelo’s frescos in the Sistine Chapel. The goal was to remove layers of soot and past restoration attempts and reveal the frescos as Michelangelo intended them. Restoration began in 1984 with a special solvent that has been used in other restorations. An air system was also added to control the humidity and temperature of the chapel to reduce further damage.

The restoration was completed December 31, 1989—a year longer then it took Michelangelo to paint it. The restoration continues to raise controversy as art historians debate whether the colors revealed were what Michelangelo actually painted. Still, the frescos are now safe and available to be enjoyed and marveled at by generations to come.

View the full ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo here

Although some may know him best for his work as a sculptor, as creator of magnificent works such as David, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was as talented a painter as he was a sculptor and should be recognized as much for the things he has painted as he is for the things he has chiseled.

As a young man, Michelangelo was an apprentice to both a painter and a sculptor. His teacher in the art of painting was Domenico Ghirlandaio, who would go on to introduce and recommend him to Lorenzeo de Medici, who would give Michelangelo plenty of work in sculpture for much of his youth.

It wasn’t until the 16th century, when Michelangelo was nearing the age of 30, that he was commissioned to paint anything. It was at this period in time that Pope Julius II convinced Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel as a fresco, in which paint is laid upon damp plaster.

It is said that the original plaster recipe that Michelangelo used became moldy, causing him to request a different formula be made for the work, one which would be more durable. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel has become one of the most celebrated works of art since its unveiling. Rather than depict a single scene on the ceiling, Michelangelo chose to paint nine scenes from the Book of Genesis.

The nine scenes were put into three groupings: the Creation, Adam and Eve, and finally Noah. The Creation segment details God’s creation of the world. The Adam and Eve segment bears witness to God’s creation of Adam and Eve as well as their subsequent fall from grace. The Noah segment deals with humanity’s fate thereafter, including the Great Flood.

The other great painting that Michelangelo was commissioned to work on, also a fresco, was The Last Judgment, and was designed to be the wall of the altar of the Sistine Chapel. In stark contrast to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which details certain events in the Book of Genesis, the Last Judgment’s subject matter is the second coming of Christ and the end of all things – the apocalypse.

It broke from tradition in its depiction of the apocalypse, placing Christ in the middle of all things, with human souls rising and descending around him, as per the judgment bestowed upon them. The painting has no portrayal of hell or heaven, a break from tradition that typically showed heaven, earth and hell layered horizontally upon one another.

Michelangelo took humorous liberties with the painting as well, painting a self-portrait of himself as a flayed skin being held by St. Bartholomew. The painting was the cause of great controversy, not only for its less traditional content, but also for the great amount of nudity in it. In fact, the genitalia in the fresco was later commissioned by the church to be covered up by the artist Daniele de Volterra.

He may be the most remarkable sculptor of Western culture, but let there be no doubt that Michelangelo was as talented a painter as he was sculptor. His works in the Sistine Chapel have had a profound impact on millions of visitors, art lovers, and future artists for centuries.

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was an Italian Renaissance man best known for his art and sculpture. How he is best known often depends on whom you ask and their particular interests in the arts. Those enthralled by sculpture would immediately conjure images of his David, whereas those enticed by his painting would think of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or his Last Judgment.

Michelangelo was born in Caprese in 1475, the second son to a magistrate. As a young man he served as an apprentice in both painting and sculpture until he gained the attention of Lorenzo de Medici, whose school he thereafter attended and for whom he completed commissioned works of art such as Madonna of the Steps and Battle of the Centaurs. After a series of travels during which he was commissioned to sculpt Bacchus and Pieta, Michelangelo returned to Florence as the 15th century ended, his reputation having grown, and was commissioned to make what is now his most famous sculpture, David.

Having completed David by 1504, Michelangelo’s presence was requested in Rome by Pope Julius II, who commissioned him to design and build the Pope’s tomb. However, work on this project was intermittent at best, as Michelangelo’s attention was taken away from it regularly by other commissions. However, that is not to say that those other commissions were without merit. In fact, one of the first major commissions that interrupted his work on the papal tomb was to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which he painted as scenes from Genesis.

After completing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1512, Michelangelo spent his time working various commissions for Pope Leo X, who succeeded Julius II in 1513. During this time, Michelangelo worked primarily on the basicila of San Lorenzo, having been commissioned by Leo X to restore the façade and afterwards to add a Medici family tomb to the basilica. Neither project was ever finished however.

In 1534, Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Clement VII to create a fresco of The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. Although Clement VII died shortly after issuing the commission, his successor, Paul III, followed through with it and saw it completed in 1541. Afterwards, he began work on his two final works of fresco painting, The Conversion of St. Paul and The Marytrdom of St. Paul, both of which were finished by 1550. In 1546, Michelangelo worked on his final major commission of his life, one tapping his architectural skills, tasking him with designing the dome for St. Peter’s Basilica. He would complete his design and see it begun, but he would not survive to see the dome erected in full.

Michelangelo died in 1564, still working on St. Peter’s Basilica. He was a man of many skills in his time, not simply a painter, nor just a sculptor. He was both and more accomplished in both than most can ever hope to be in one. Beyond this, he was an architect as well, as shown in his designs for tombs and the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. Michelangelo’s influence on art has been prolific to say the least; he has influenced generations of artists and will likely continue to for generations to come.