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_michaelangelo _
By: felipe
Michelangelo Michelangelo Buonarrotti, although considered by many a
Florentine, was actually born in Caprese, Italy in 1475. Michelangelo was an
inspired artist of the Renaissance period. He and Leonardo DaVinci were
considered to be the two greatest figures of this highly artistic movement.
Michelangelo was a highly versatile artist and was involved in sculpting,
architecture, painting, and even poetry. .At the age of 13, he was apprenticed
to Domenico Ghirlandaio, who at the time was painting a chapel in the church
of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Here, the young Michelangelo learned the
technique of fresco (painting on fresh plaster before it dries); He would use
this technique many years later in his work in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. At
the age of fifteen, Michelangelo began to spend time in the home and in the
gardens of Lorenzo de' Medici, where he studied sculpture under Bertoldo di
Giovanni. It was during this time that he completed the Madonna of the Stairs
and the Battle of the Centaurs. The political climate in Florence following
the death of Lorenzo de' Medici may have led Michelangelo to leave the city,
going first to Bologna and, after a brief return to Florence, to Rome. In
Rome, he carved the Bacchus and then the Pietà which is in St. Peter's
basilica in Rome. Michelangelo returned to Florence where he began work on the
David. Called the "Giant" by his fellow Florentines, this statue was completed
in 1504. Later that year, Michelangelo was commissioned to undertake a fresco
of the Battle of the Cascina, a work that was unfortunately later destroyed.
During this same time period, Michelangelo produced several Madonnas;
including the painting the Holy Family (also known as the Doni Madonna), a
statue of the Madonna and Child (called the Bruges Madonna) which was
purchased by a Flemish merchant and is now in Bruges, and two marble reliefs,
the Taddei tondo and the Pitti tondo. Michelangelo was called to Rome by Pope
Julius II to create a tomb for him which was to contain forty lifesize
figures, an endeavor that was never fully realized. In 1508, Michelangelo
began work on the Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes, a task that would occupy
him until 1512. Upon completing the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo returned to
the work on Julius' tomb, completing the figure of Moses and leaving
unfinished two Slaves. Following Julius' death in 1513, he worked for Pope Leo
X, Lorenzo de' Medici's son. At the Medici family's parish church in Florence,
San Lorenzo, Michelangelo created tombs for Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici
(II) and designed the Laurentian library, an annex to San Lorenzo. In 1534,
Michelangelo left Florence for Rome, where he was to spend the remainder of
his life. He returned to the Sistine Chapel where he created the Last
Judgment, another fresco, on the end wall. He designed the dome for St.
Peter's and the Capitoline Square. He also worked on the Palazzo Farnese. His
last paintings were the frescoes of the Conversion of St. Paul and the
Crucifixion of St. Peter in the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican. Michelangelo
died on February 18, 1564. Michelangelo established himself as one of the
great artists of all time through his various artistic abilities. Not only was
Michelangelo Buonarrotti a fantastic painter as he showed through his
masterpiece on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, but many thought that his greatest
artistic achievements were his sculptures. He was a man of many talents and
will go down in history as one of the greatest and most versatile visionaries
of all time. Bibliography: 1) www.michelangelo.com 2) Encyclopedia Britannica
3) Microsoft Encarta 98
Word Count: 603
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