Michelangelo is a great Renaissance master, whose name is remembered along with Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and other Renaissance artists. Known primarily as an unsurpassed sculptor (a statue of David in Florence, etc.) and the author of the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. He worked in the field of architecture, was a great poet.
The beginning of the way
The biography of Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni begins on March 6, 1457 in Caprese (now Caprese-Michelangelo). His first teachers were masters Bertoldo di Giovanni and Ghirlandaio from the art school of Lorenzo Medici. The aesthetic attitude of the future artist was formed under the influence of Donatello, Giotto, Jacopo della Quercia, the creations of which he copied during his studies. The first independent sculptural works - “Madonna at the Stairs” and “Battle of the Centaurs” - are currently on display in the Florentine Museum of Casa Buonarroti. In 1496, a young artist moved to Rome.
Confession
Michelangelo’s biography does not differ in a difficult struggle with circumstances: his unconditional talent was recognized immediately by both fellow workers and those in power. By 1500, the artist was completing work on the sculptural composition “Pieta” (“Madonna mourning Christ”), commissioned for the Cathedral of St. Peter, and almost immediately an order comes from the Florentine government: a statue of David five and a half meters high, designed to be placed on the central square of the city. The work lasted five years. Thanks to this statue, worldwide fame came to Michelangelo. The original is currently in the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence.
The master receives another order from Julius II: a tombstone for the future papal tomb. The composition was begun in 1505, but continued only in 1513 (Julius II had already died). The terms of the contract were revised many times, work moved slowly. Only thirty years later, the tombstone was established. Of the first works, only the statue of Moses was included in the composition. Sculptures of slaves originally intended for the same purpose ("The Dying" and "Risen") are now in the Louvre.
Creative maturity
1508 year. The biography of Michelangelo was replenished with the following important episode: he was entrusted with painting the vaults of the Sistine Chapel. On its walls and arches there are plots from Genesis and other books of the Old Testament, images of prophets.
For twenty years, the master worked on the creation of the architectural and sculptural ensemble of the Medici chapel. The work was repeatedly stopped both due to lack of funds and due to force majeure: from 1527 to 1530 the Florentine uprising against the Medici continued, and Michelangelo led the defense of the besieged city. The chapel was completed only in 1546, it was then that the sculptural group was established.
Michelangelo’s biography is closely intertwined with the dramatic events of both secular and religious life in Italy. In 1534, the artist returned to Rome. This time is a difficult period for the Renaissance: church sentiment is activated. The fresco “The Last Judgment” (the altar of the Sistine Chapel), completed by 1541, reflects the artist’s confusion and changes in his worldview. From now on, until the death of the master, his paintings and sculptures are filled with tragic pathos.
Latest project
Partly the authorship of Michelangelo belongs to the Cathedral of St. Petra is a grandiose building that was built by several generations of architects. In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed leader. A brief biography of the artist mentions that originally in 326 a basilica was built here. In the XV century it began to be modernized, but in the end Julius II ordered the construction of a new cathedral on this site. The construction was led in turn by Bramante, Rafael, Sangallo, Peruzzi, Michelangelo, Porta, Vignola, Maderno, Bernini. The completion of the construction dates back to 1667.
Michelangelo died as a result of a short illness on February 18, 1564 in Rome. His body was secretly taken to Florence and buried in the tomb of the church of Santa Croce. There to this day, visitors to the city can see the tomb of Michelangelo Buonarroti, whose biography inspired the creation of books by such masters as Romen Rolland, Irving Stone, as well as many connoisseurs of Renaissance art.