😉 Greetings to history and art lovers! In the article “Michelangelo Buonarroti: biography, facts, video” – about the life of the Italian sculptor, artist, architect, the greatest master of the Renaissance.
Michelangelo: biography
The future genius in the field of painting and sculpture was born at the very beginning of the spring of 1475 in the town of Caprese, near Florence. His full name is: Michelangelo di Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti Simoni.
His father, Lodovico was the mayor of this town, and then returned to Florence. The Buonarroti family was ancient but impoverished. The aristocrat Lodovico considered himself unworthy to work. The family lived on a modest income from a farm in the village of Settignano, also near Florence. There the baby was given to the nurse, the stonemason’s wife.
The stone has been mined here since time immemorial, and the sculptor often repeated that he “absorbed with milk the ability to work with a chisel and a hammer”. The boy’s creativity manifested itself in early childhood. But the father was categorically against his son becoming a painter.
However, the 13-year-old teenager was already able to show his freedom-loving character and, after much objection, received consent to study with the artist Domenic Ghirlandaio. Then he moved on to the sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni.
This school was patronized by Lorenzo Medici, well versed in art. He immediately saw the undoubted talent of the unusual student. The young man even lived in the Medici palace for several months. But Lorenzo died and at the age of seventeen Michelangelo Buonarroti returned home.
In Florence, there was confusion with political leaders and in 1494 the young artist leaves her. He visits Venice and Bologna, and then goes back to his parents. And again, not for long.
The new rulers could not pacify the inhabitants, and then suddenly a terrible epidemic of a merciless plague struck the city, mowing down its victims right and left. In the middle of the summer of 1496, Michelangelo ended up in Rome and lived there for more than five years. Here his success and subsequent huge popularity were expected.
First masterpieces
Almost immediately, as soon as he set foot on this land blessed for many painters, he received an offer to build a statue of Bacchus from marble, and two years later followed another large order also from marble – the composition “Pieta”.
Michelangelo “Pieta”, 1499 (Marble. Height 174 cm) St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican
The composition was unanimously recognized as a masterpiece and this strengthened the position of the young man in the creative world. The next order is the painting “Burial”, but it was not finished. At the age of 26, he again comes to his homeland, where life becomes more stable.
Buonarroti propose to create a statue of David. This work was completed in 1504. The statue brought fame to the sculptor in his homeland. The Florentines were simply stunned by the magnificence of this work.
Michelangelo “David”, 1501-1504 (Marble. Height 5,17 m) Academy of Fine Arts, Florence
It was planned to erect the statue near the cathedral, but this elegance and at the same time majesty was worthy of the very heart of Florence. And she rightfully took her place in the central square. Very soon the statue became a symbol of the republic, which fought for freedom.
Of interest is an order from the city authorities – to paint a canvas on the plot of the battle at Kashin. It was necessary to depict the convincing victory of the Florentine army over the army of the Pisans, which occurred in 1364.
The situation was aggravated by the fact that Leonardo da Vinci, who was much older than Michelangelo, undertook to write another work for the same Palazzo, which would depict the Battle of Angiari. But the painter accepted this peculiar challenge.
In the light, it has long been known about the rather difficult relationship between Leonardo and Michelangelo, and everyone expected the results of this creative duel of two geniuses. But both works were never completed.
Rome and the Vatican
Vinci did not finish the painting after a deafening failure with an experiment on the technique of wall painting he had invented, and Michelangelo wrote a series of amazing sketches and left in the spring of 1505 for Rome, where he was invited by Pope Julius II.
He arrived in Rome only nine months later, as he spent a long time in the quarries of Carrara, selecting marble for work. According to the plan, the tomb of Julius II was to be decorated with 40 sculptures, but very quickly the Pope changed his mind, and in 1513 he died. For many years, the court hearings on the remuneration of the sculptor continued.
In 1545 Michelangelo finished work on the tomb, although it was only a pale shadow of the idea. Another order of the pope was the painting of the chapel vault in the Vatican. The painter worked on it for about four years. When the fresco was presented to the public, it was unanimously recognized as a work of genius.
The new Pope Leo X made several orders to Michelangelo for the Florentine Church of San Lorenzo. The artist started working on them only three years later. These were two huge projects: the Medici tomb and the Laurentian Library, which housed a unique collection of books and manuscripts.
In 1529-30. The master was entrusted with defensive structures that could withstand the well-armed Medici troops, which were expelled in 1527.
Three years later, they returned the throne, and the sculptor had to urgently leave Florence. True, Pope Clement VII gave a guarantee not to persecute the artist and he continued his work.
Fragment of the fresco “Creation of Adam” in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican
In 1534 the master moved to the Vatican. Clement VII, who prepared the order for him, has already passed away. The Pope, Paul III, changed the plot of the painting and asked to depict the “Last Judgment”. This gigantic fresco, which the master completed in 1541, is yet another masterpiece. (Watch the video at the end of the article)
last years of life
Michelangelo Buonarroti has devoted the last 20 years to architecture. At the same time, he creates two amazingly beautiful frescoes for the Paolina Chapel. Since 1546, the master has been working on the reconstruction of the Cathedral of St. Peter. He offered his vision of the architecture of the temple. The cathedral, consecrated in 1626, is the fruit of his genius.
Michelangelo at the end of his life created drawings depicting the Crucifixion and sculptures “Pieta”. In one, he portrays himself as Joseph of Arimathea.
The other one he had been working on in the very last days was not finished. The greatest sculptor and painter died in February 1564, two weeks before he was 89 years old.
Friends, in this video you can watch the works of the master and find out additional information “Michelangelo Buonarroti: biography and creativity” ↓
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