Michelangelo Biography, Life - Essay Example

Introduction Michelangelo was one of the most famous artists of the Italian Renaissance. He was born on March 6, 1475, in Rome Italy. Michelangelos father, Lodovico, was serving as a magistrate in the village when he received the blessings of the birth of his second of five sons with his wife, Francesca Neri. They decided returned to Florence when Michelangelo was still a kid. 1487 – FLORENCE Michelangelo was introduced to the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio. He realized at the early age that his son had no concern or interest in the family business, so he agreed to apprentice him, at the age of 13, to a workshop that was well known. There, Michelangelo learned the technique of panel painting for a few months. He was supposed to stay there for not less than three years, but an extraordinary opportunity opened to him. At the recommendation of Ghirlandaio, he moved into the house of Florentine ruler Lorenzo the Magnificent. One of the powerful Medici family, where he studied classical sculpture in the Medici gardens. This is a great time for Michelangelo; his experience with the Medici group, permit him access to the social elite of Florence, which allowed him to learn under the respected sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni, Donatellos pupil, and introducing him to prominent poets, Humanists and scholars . 1493 – FLORENCE Piero de Medici initiates Michelangelo to the Augustinian friars from the Church of Saint Spirit in Florence, who was hosting the young talent within their convent. He was given a special permission to learn cadavers for insight into anatomy, through the introduction to corpses he had an adverse effect on his health. These combined factors laid the basis for what would become Michelangelos unique style: a muscular concept and reality combined with a touching beauty. As a sign of appreciation to the friars, Michelangelo made a wooden Crucifix, which is still inside the Church of Saint Spirit. 1494 – BOLOGNA-VENICE Slightly before the Medici family were banished from Florence, Michelangelo moved to Bologna hosted by Gianfranco Aldrovandi and then to Venice, where he continued his studies of literature and sculpture practice. He returned to Florence in 1495 where he begun the work as a sculptor, modeling his style after masterpieces of classical antiquity, 1496 – ROME In 1496, Michelangelo moved to Rome as a result of the famous Sleeping Cupid affair which had made him a reputation. He hoped to find new donors for his creations. He started modeling a marble Bacchus, under the patronage of the banker Jacopo Galli. On August 27, 1498 Michelangelo signed his first break through great commission for Cardinal Jean Bilheres de Lagrualas. Buonarroti is entrusted to sculpt a sculpture of Mary holding the dead Jesus across her lap, and the work was at first put up in the church of the cardinals tomb. The estimated period of working was a year, which was fully respected by Michelangelo. At that time, Michelangelo was only 25 years old, and with the reward of 450 ducats he was best and most paid artists in his days. 1501 – 1504 FLORENCE So influential, Michelangelo goes back to Florence, where he accepted the competition for a large statue of David, which had been commissioned for the Cathedral of Florence. In two and a half years of hard work, he completed a 14feet tall giant figure for four hundred ducats. In the same years, Michelangelo was considered the greatest artist in the entire world; therefore he is entrusted with several jobs by different patrons at the same time. He carved in secrecy a marble Madonna and Child that was promptly sent to the Flanders and was put-up. 1505 – ROME Michelangelo had just completed David sculpt and was called back to Rome for a very serious project that was to make a tomb of Pope Julius II. The proposed idea included forty statues that were to be completed within five years. The first plans and drawings were featured in the same year, and Michelangelo started selecting the required materials at the marble quarries of Carrara. Michelangelo actually kept on working on the tomb of Julius II for a period of decades in various phases, and he defined that project as the torment of his life until 1545. 1508 – 1514 ROME The commission for the tomb is interrupted, and Pope Julius II asks him to switch from sculpting to decorating to painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Buonarroti completed the 65-foot ceiling alone, spending many hours on his back and checking the project till revealing the finished work, on October 31, 1512. 1515 – FLORENCE When Pope Julius II died, he was succeeded by the Florentine Pope Leo X, who was the second son of Lorenzo dei Medici. Pope Leo had been born in the same year of Michelangelo, asked Buonarroti to rebuild the facade of the Basilica. The artist featured wooden models and drawings for the facade, as well as several attempts to open a new marble quarry at Pietrasanta. In 1520, the work was ended due to financial shortage and the basilica lacks a facade until today. 1520 – FLORENCE In 1520, the Medici presented Michelangelo another huge proposal, for a family funerary chapel in the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo. It housedPope Leo X passed on in 1521 and was succeeded for a short period by the austere Adrian VI,who was then his cousin Giulio Medici as Pope Clement VII. In 1524, Michelangelo was assigned another work from Medici pope. He built the Laurentian Library, which is next to San Lorenzos Church. During those years, Michelangelo tried to build other five blocks of marble for Pope Juliuss tomb, starting other four sculpts which remained unfinished inside his studio in Florence 1527 – 1534 FLORENCE In 1527, the Florentine citizens banished the Medici and restored the republic. Charles V put the town under blockade to restore the Lordship, supporting the Medici family. Michelangelo worked on the citys rampant from 1528 to 1529 within San Miniato Church. The city fell in 1530, and the Medici was restored to power. Michelangelo then fell out of favor with the young Alessandro Medici and fearing for his life, he fled to Rome and left assistants to complete the Medici chapel and the Laurentian Library. The artist would never return to Florence in the following years. 1534 – ROME Shortly before Pope Clement died, he commissioned Michelangelo to painting a fresco of The Last Judgement on the altars wall of the Sistine Chapel. His inheritor, Paul III followed the artist in the project till completion in October 1541. In Rome, Michelangelo meet the poet, Vitoria Colonna, marchioness of Pescara, who became one of his closest friends until he died in 1547. The artist dedicated to him several madrigals and sonnets. 1547 – ROME During his old age, Michelangelo made a number of Pietas in which he apparently reflects upon mortality. The Pietà Rondanini was started around 1547, and the Michelangelo worked at this subject in various phases until his death, leaving it unfinished. The Pieta is now showcased at the Castello in Milan. 1550 – ROME Between 1550 and 1555 Michelangelo begun sculpting the Bandini Pietà, a work which was supposed to be for the artists tomb. In this Florentine Pieta, Michelangelo portrays himself as the old Nicodemus lowering the body of Jesus from the top of the cross into the arms of his mother and Mary Magdalene. In a moment of frustration and anger 1564 – ROME According to Michelangelos friend Daniele da Volterra, he watched him work all day on February 12 on the Rondanini Pietà. Two days after, he developed fever but went for a walk in the cold night ,and said he just couldnt rest. The next day he spent most his day sitting next to the fireplace but finally he must have crawl into bed. He died on February 18. Michelangelo died just weeks before his 89th birthday at his home in Rome.The Pope wanted to have him buried in St. Peters but Michelangelos nephew and heir, secretly transported his body back to Florence, where it is still today buried in Santa Croce. References Read More