Michelangelo: The Making of a Renaissance Master
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance, born on March 6, 1475, and passing away on February 18, 1564, exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. His work, inspired by classical antiquity, left an indelible mark on the artistic landscape. Michelangelo's exceptional talents established him as the quintessential Renaissance man.
Early Life and Artistic Inclinations
Michelangelo was born in Caprese, near Arezzo, Tuscany, to a family with a banking background in Florence. However, the family's financial situation changed when their bank failed. Michelangelo's father, Ludovico di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni, briefly held a government position in Caprese.
After a few months, the family returned to Florence, where Michelangelo was raised. The passing of his mother in 1481, when he was six years old, led Michelangelo to live with a nanny and her husband, a stonecutter, in Settignano. His father owned a marble quarry and a small farm in Settignano. It was during his time there that Michelangelo developed his fondness for marble.
Formal Training and Artistic Development
During his youth, Michelangelo was sent to Florence to study grammar under the guidance of Humanist Francesco da Urbino. However, he showed little interest in his formal education and instead gravitated towards copying paintings from churches and spending time with fellow painters.
At that time, Florence was the leading center of arts and learning in Italy. Art was supported by the Signoria (town council), merchant guilds, and affluent patrons like the Medici family and their banking associates. Florence witnessed the flourishing of the Renaissance, a period marked by a revival of Classical scholarship and artistic pursuits. In the early 15th century, architect Filippo Brunelleschi, after studying ancient Roman buildings in Rome, constructed two churches-San Lorenzo and Santo Spirito-that exemplified Classical principles. Sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti dedicated fifty years to creating the bronze doors of the Baptistry, which Michelangelo later referred to as "The Gates of Paradise." The exterior niches of the Church of Orsanmichele showcased works by renowned Florentine sculptors such as Donatello, Ghiberti, Andrea del Verrocchio, and Nanni di Banco. The interiors of older churches were adorned with frescoes, predominantly in the Late Medieval and Early Renaissance styles. These frescoes were initiated by Giotto and continued by Masaccio in the Brancacci Chapel, both of whom Michelangelo studied and replicated through his drawings.
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During Michelangelo's childhood, a group of painters from Florence was summoned to the Vatican to decorate the walls of the Sistine Chapel. Among them was Domenico Ghirlandaio, a prominent artist skilled in fresco painting, perspective, figure drawing, and portraiture. Ghirlandaio, who operated the largest workshop in Florence, took on Michelangelo as an apprentice in 1488 when he was just 13 years old. The following year, Michelangelo's father convinced Ghirlandaio to pay him as an artist-an unusual practice for someone of his age. In 1489, when Lorenzo de' Medici, the de facto ruler of Florence, requested Ghirlandaio to send his two most talented students, Michelangelo and Francesco Granacci were chosen.
From 1490 to 1492, Michelangelo attended the Platonic Academy, a Humanist academy established by the Medici family. It was during this time that he was exposed to the influential philosophers and writers of the era, including Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, and Poliziano. Michelangelo created sculptural reliefs such as the Madonna of the Stairs (1490-1492) and the Battle of the Centaurs (1491-1492), the latter based on a concept suggested by Poliziano and commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici. He also collaborated with sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni for a period. At the age of seventeen, Michelangelo encountered an altercation with another student, Pietro Torrigiano, who struck him on the nose, resulting in the disfigurement that is noticeable in his portraits.
Early Works and Recognition
In 1494, as Florence faced the threat of a French siege, Michelangelo, concerned for his safety, relocated to the safer city of Bologna after a brief stop in Venice. There, he became friends with the wealthy senator Giovan Francesco Aldrovandi, who secured a commission for the 19-year-old Michelangelo to complete the remaining statuettes for the marble sarcophagus lid for the Arca of St. Dominic. The original lid, created by Niccolò dell'Arca, had been installed in 1473, and Michelangelo sculpted additional figures, including Saint Proculus, Saint Petronio, and an angel with a candelabra, in 1496. At just 19 years old, Michelangelo's attention to detail in the folds of the cloth and drapery, as well as his portrayal of Petronio in mid-step, outshone the work of the older sculptor.
Michelangelo briefly returned to Florence after the French invasion threat diminished. During this time, he worked on two statues: one of St. John the Baptist and a small cupid. The cupid sculpture was sold to Cardinal Riario of San Giorgio, who believed it to be an antique. Although angered upon discovering the deception, Cardinal Riario admired Michelangelo's talent and invited him to Rome for a new project. Michelangelo created a statue of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, which, upon completion, was rejected by the cardinal due to political considerations regarding the association with a naked pagan figure. Michelangelo, known for his fiery temperament, was furious. Years later, he instructed his biographer, Condivi, to deny that the commission came from the cardinal and instead attribute it to his banker, Jacopo Galli, who had acquired the finished work.
Michelangelo remained in Rome after completing the Bacchus sculpture, and in 1497, Cardinal Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas, the French Ambassador to the Holy See, commissioned him to create a Pietà for the chapel of the King of France in St. Peter's Basilica. Although the Pietà was not part of the biblical narrative of the Crucifixion, it was a common subject in devotional works, aiming to inspire repentant prayer. Michelangelo's Pietà was distinct as he sculpted two figures from a single block of marble. His portrayal, characterized by emotional depth and realism, garnered widespread acclaim and admiration. The Pietà became one of Michelangelo's most renowned early sculptures, with the 16th-century biographer Giorgio Vasari describing it as something that "nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh."
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Despite solidifying his status as one of the period's most extraordinarily gifted artists, Michelangelo did not receive major commissions for about two years. Financial concerns, however, were not his primary focus. As he later remarked to Condivi, "However rich I may have been, I have always lived like a poor man."
In 1497, the monk Girolamo Savonarola gained notoriety in Florence with his Bonfire of the Vanities, an event where art and books were publicly burned. This disrupted the thriving Renaissance culture of the city. Michelangelo had to wait until Savonarola's removal a year later before returning to Florence.
In 1501, Michelangelo embarked on his most monumental sculpture project, which he completed in 1504. The Wool Guild commissioned him to finish a project that had been started by Agostino di Duccio nearly 40 years earlier. The project involved creating a 17-foot-tall nude statue of the biblical hero David. The finished sculpture, recognized for its historical significance in the realm of sculpture, akin to Leonardo's Mona Lisa in painting
Regarding the David sculpture, art historian Creighton E. Gilbert described it as the ultimate representation of the Renaissance ideal of perfect humanity. Originally intended for the cathedral buttress, its grandeur convinced Michelangelo's contemporaries to place it in a more prominent location, which was determined by a commission consisting of artists and notable citizens. They decided to install the David in front of the entrance of the Palazzo dei Priori (now known as Palazzo Vecchio) as a symbol of the Florentine Republic.
Following the completion of David, Michelangelo received various painting commissions. One surviving painting is the Doni Tondo (The Holy Family) created in 1504. Gilbert notes that this artwork demonstrates the artist's fascination with the work of Leonardo da Vinci. Although Michelangelo consistently denied being influenced by anyone, scholars generally agree that Leonardo's return to Florence in 1500 after a long absence had an impact on younger artists, including Michelangelo.
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During the High Renaissance in Florence, there was intense rivalry among artists vying for important commissions and recognition. Leonardo, being 23 years older than Michelangelo, was the most celebrated figure among the Renaissance masters in Florence. However, there was an unspoken rivalry between the two. In 1503, Piero Soderini, the lifetime Gonfalonier of Justice, commissioned both artists to paint opposing walls in the Salone dei Cinquecento of the Palazzo Vecchio. This event created great anticipation as Florence eagerly followed the progress of their preparations. Unfortunately, Soderini abandoned the project, and neither Leonardo's The Battle of Anghiari nor Michelangelo's The Battle of Cascina were ever completed. Leonardo returned to Milan, while Michelangelo was summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II.
Mature Period and Masterpieces
In Rome, Michelangelo began preparing for the construction of the Pope's tomb, a massive mausoleum that was supposed to be completed within five years. He traveled to the marble quarry.
Michelangelo achieved fame early. Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, were sculpted before the age of 30. Although he did not consider himself a painter, Michelangelo created two of the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and The Last Judgment on its altar wall. His design of the Laurentian Library pioneered Mannerist architecture. At the age of 71, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter's Basilica.
Michelangelo was the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive. Three biographies were published during his lifetime. In his lifetime, Michelangelo was often called Il Divino ("the divine one"). His contemporaries admired his terribilità-his ability to instill a sense of awe in viewers of his art.
During the same period, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took approximately four years to complete (1508-1512). According to Condivi's account, Bramante, who was working on the building of St. Peter's Basilica, resented Michelangelo's commission for the pope's tomb and convinced the pope to commission him in a medium with which he was unfamiliar, in order that he might fail at the task. Michelangelo was originally commissioned to paint the Twelve Apostles on the triangular pendentives that supported the ceiling, and to cover the central part of the ceiling with ornament. Michelangelo persuaded Pope Julius II to give him a free hand and proposed a different and more complex scheme, representing the Creation, the Fall of Man, the Promise of Salvation through the prophets, and the genealogy of Christ. The composition stretches over 500 square metres of ceiling and contains over 300 figures. At its centre are nine episodes from the Book of Genesis, divided into three groups: God's creation of the earth; God's creation of humankind and their fall from God's grace; and lastly, the state of humanity as represented by Noah and his family.
In 1513, Pope Julius II died and was succeeded by Pope Leo X, the second son of Lorenzo de' Medici. From 1513 to 1516, Pope Leo was on good terms with Pope Julius's surviving relatives, so encouraged Michelangelo to continue work on Julius's tomb, but the families became enemies again in 1516 when Pope Leo tried to seize the Duchy of Urbino from Julius's nephew Francesco Maria I della Rovere. Pope Leo then had Michelangelo stop working on the tomb, and commissioned him to reconstruct the façade of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence and to adorn it with sculptures. He spent three years creating drawings and models for the façade, as well as attempting to open a new marble quarry at Pietrasanta specifically for the project. In 1520, the work was abruptly cancelled by his financially strapped patrons before any real progress had been made.
In 1520, the Medici came back to Michelangelo with another grand proposal, this time for a family funerary chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo. For posterity, this project, occupying the artist for much of the 1520s and 1530s, was more fully realised. Michelangelo used his own discretion to create the composition of the Medici Chapel, which houses the large tombs of two of the younger members of the Medici family, Giuliano, Duke of Nemours, and Lorenzo, his nephew. It also serves to commemorate their more famous predecessors, Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano, who are buried nearby. The tombs display statues of the two Medici and allegorical figures representing Night and Day, and Dusk and Dawn.
Pope Leo X died in 1521 and was succeeded briefly by the austere Adrian VI, and then by his cousin Giulio Medici as Pope Clement VII. In 1524, Michelangelo received an architectural commission from the Medici pope for the Laurentian Library at San Lorenzo's Church. He designed both the interior of the library itself and its vestibule, a building utilising architectural forms with such dynamic effect that it is seen as the forerunner of Baroque architecture. It was left to assistants to interpret his plans and carry out construction.
In 1527, Florentine citizens, encouraged by the sack of Rome, threw out the Medici and restored the republic. A siege of the city ensued, and Michelangelo went to the aid of his beloved Florence by working on the city's fortifications from 1528 to 1529. The city fell in 1530, and the Medici were restored to power, with the young Alessandro Medici as the first Duke of Florence. Pope Clement, a Medici, sentenced Michelangelo to death. It is thought that Michelangelo hid for two months in a small chamber under the Medici chapels in the Basilica of San Lorenzo with light from just a tiny window, making many charcoal and chalk drawings which remained hidden until the room was rediscovered in 1975, and opened to small numbers of visitors in 2023. Michelangelo was eventually pardoned by the Medicis and the death sentence lifted, so that he could complete work on the Sistine Chapel and the Medici family tomb.
In Rome, Michelangelo lived near the church of Santa Maria di Loreto. Shortly before his death in 1534, Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint a fresco of The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. His successor, Pope Paul III, was instrumental in seeing that Michelangelo began and completed the project, which he laboured on from 1534 to October 1541. The fresco depicts the Second Coming of Christ and his Judgement of the souls. Michelangelo ignored the usual artistic conventions in portraying Jesus, showing him as a massive, muscular figure, youthful, beardless and naked. He is surrounded by saints, among whom Saint Bartholomew holds a drooping flayed skin, bearing the likeness of Michelangelo. Once completed, the depiction of Christ and the Virgin Mary naked was considered sacrilegious, and Cardinal Carafa and Monsignor Sernini (Mantua's ambassador) campaigned to have the fresco removed or censored, but the Pope resisted.
Michelangelo worked on a number of architectural projects at this time. They included a design for the Capitoline Hill with its trapezoid piazza displaying the ancient bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius. He designed the upper floor of the Palazzo Farnese and the interior of the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, in which he transformed the vaulted interior of an Ancient Roman bathhouse.
While still working on the Last Judgment, Michelangelo received yet another commission for the Vatican. This was for the painting of two large frescos in the Cappella Paolina depicting significant events in the lives of the two most important saints of Rome, the Conversion of Saint Paul and the Crucifixion of Saint Peter. Like the Last Judgment, these two works are complex compositions containing a great number of figures. They were completed in 1550.
In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed architect of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome. The process of replacing the Constantinian basilica of the 4th century had been underway for fifty years and in 1506 foundations had been laid to the plans of Bramante. Successive architects had worked on it, but little progress had been made. Michelangelo was persuaded to take over the project. As construction was progressing on St Peter's, there was conc…
Artistic Style and Influences
Michelangelo's initial exploration of classical sculpture coincided with his in-depth examination of human corpses. Through his privileged access to a nearby hospital, he acquired a near-surgical comprehension of human anatomy. As a result, the muscular structure he portrayed in his artworks is incredibly lifelike and meticulously accurate, giving the impression that his figures could come alive at any given moment. No artist has been able to match Michelangelo's unparalleled skill in transforming an entire sculpture from a single block of marble. He famously expressed, "I saw the angel trapped within the marble and carved until I set him free." Renowned as the sculptor who had the ability to bring life out of stone, his mastery in this art form was unmatched.
Despite identifying himself primarily as a sculptor, Michelangelo defied expectations by creating what is arguably the most renowned fresco in the annals of global art. Depicting episodes from the Old Testament, his magnificent masterpiece, which graces the ceiling of the sacred Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, draws millions of tourists to Rome annually. The endeavor of painting the ceiling stands as a central part of Michelangelo's legend. It chronicles the story of a discontented artist toiling for four years under uncomfortable and confined circumstances on a commission he had no desire for, perched atop scaffolding.
The artist's renowned and fiery temperament is the stuff of legends. He frequently abandoned projects midway or defiantly expressed himself through provocative methods, such as incorporating his own likeness into figures or including the faces of his adversaries in a mocking manner. One notorious incident involved an attack on a prominent Vatican priest named Biagio de Cesena, who had voiced objections about the explicit nudity depicted in Michelangelo's Last Judgment fresco. Seeking revenge, the artist portrayed Minos, the mythical judge of the dead, with Cesena's face while also adding donkey ears and depicting a serpent biting his genitals.
Legacy and Influence
Michelangelo, hailed as one of the most extraordinary artists in history, holds the distinction of being the first to have his biography published while still actively pursuing his craft. The eminent Renaissance biographer, Giorgio Vasari, solidified Michelangelo's exceptional talent through his renowned work, The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (1550).
Michelangelo was responsible for sixteenth century Florence becoming the century of a movement of artists that has permanently enriched western culture. Michelangelo was without doubt one of the most inspirational and talented artists in modern history.
Michelangelo's art has far-reaching historic influence. His world is genetically a two-fold system continually expanding. stage provides the foundation for the next, from sculpture to painting, painting to architecture, architecture to the art of poetry.
He is part of its myth. moment and the interpretation of final endings. on art is tremendous. Michelangelo not only outshines all his predecessors; he remains the only great sculptor of the Renaissance at its best.
Michelangelo not only outshines all his predecessors; he remains the only great sculptor of the Renaissance at its best. the ability to use their own eyes and share a vision with either their contemporaries or posterity. contemporaries to settle for aping him.
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