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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.