MICHELANGELO DI LODOVICO BUONARROTI SIMONI

By: Jake Thomas

Biography Michelangelo (full name: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni) was born at Caprese, a village in Florentine

territory, where his father, named Ludovico Buonarroti Simoni was the resident magistrate. A few weeks after Michelangelo's birth the family returned to Florence, and, in 1488, after overcoming parental opposition he was formally apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio for a term of three years. Later in life Michelangelo tried to suppress this fact, probably to make it seem that he had never had an ordinary workshop training; for it was he more than anyone else who introduced the idea of the 'Fine Arts' having no connection with the craft that painting had always previously been. His stay in the Ghirlandaio shop must also have coincided with his beginning to work as a sculptor in the Medici Garden, where antiques from their collection were looked after by Bertoldo. Although this connection drew him into the Medici circle as a familiar, the account by Vasari of an established 'school' is now discredited. It must, however, have been Ghirlandaio who taught him the elements of fresco technique, and it was probably also in that shop that he made his drawings after the great Florentine masters of the past (copies after Giotto and Masaccio; now in the Louvre, in Munich, and in Vienna). Michelangelo produced at least two relief sculptures by the time he was 16 years old, the Battle of the Centaurs and the Madonna of the Stairs (both 1489-92, Casa Buonarroti, Florence), which show that he had achieved a personal style at a very early age.

The Pietà made his name and he returned to Florence in 1501 as a famous sculptor, remaining there until 1505. During these years he was extremely active, carving the gigantic David (1501-4, now in the Accademia), the Bruges Madonna (Bruges, Notre Dame), and beginning the series of the Twelve Apostles for the Cathedral which was commissioned in 1503 but never completed (the St Matthew now in the Accademia is the only one which was even blocked in). At about this time he painted the Doni Tondo of the Holy Family with St John the Baptist (Florence, Uffizi) and made the two marble tondi of the Madonna and Child (Florence, Bargello; London, Royal Academy). The Julius Monument was, in Michelangelo's own view, the Tragedy of the Tomb. This was partly because Michelangelo and Julius had the same ardent temperament - they admired each other greatly - and very soon quarrelled, and partly because after the death of Julius in 1513, Michelangelo was under constant pressure from successive Popes to abandon his contractual obligations and work for them while equally under pressure from the heirs of Julius, who even went so far as to accuse him of embezzlement. The original project for a vast free-standing tomb with forty figures was substantially reduced by a second contract (1513), drawn up after Julius's death;

Meanwhile, the original quarrel of 1506 with Julius was made up and Michelangelo executed a colossal bronze statue of the Pope as an admonition to the recently conquered Bolognese (who destroyed it as soon as they could, in 1511). In 1508, back in Rome, he began his most important work, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican for Julius. From then on Michelangelo was universally regarded as the greatest living artist, although he was then only 37

Biography (Cont) In 1520 he began planning the Medici Chapel, a funerary chapel in honour of four of the Medici - two of them by

no means the most glorious of their family. The sculptural decoration of the chapel (an integral part of the architecture) was never completed, although the figures of Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici set over their tombs, eternally symbolizing the Active and the Contemplative Life, above the symbols of Time and Mortality – Day and Night, Dawn and Evening- are among his finest creations. The unfinished Madonna was meant to be the focal point of the chapel.

He was at once commissioned to paint his next great work, the Last Judgement on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, which affords the strongest possible contrast with his own Ceiling. He began work on it in 1536. In the interval there had been the Sack of Rome and the Reformation, and the confident humanism and Christian Neoplatonism of the Ceiling had curdled into the personal pessimism and despondency of the Judgement. The very choice of subject is indicative of the new mood, as is the curious fact that the mouth of Hell gapes over the altar itself where, during services, stands a crucifix symbolizing Christ standing between Man and Doom. It was unveiled in 1541 and caused a sensation equalled only by his own work of thirty years earlier, and was the only work by him to be as much reviled as praised, and only narrowly to escape destruction, though it did not escape the mutilation of having many of the nude figures 'clothed‘ after his death.

Michelangelo was now 75 years old. Earlier, in 1538-39, plans were under way for the remodeling of the buildings surrounding the Campidoglio (Capitol) on the Capitoline Hill, he civic and political heart of the city of Rome. Although Michelangelo's program was not carried out until the late 1550s and not finished until the 17th century, he designed the Campidoglio around an oval shape with the famous antique bronze equestrian statue of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in the center. For the Palazzo dei Conservatori he brought a new unity to the public building façade, at the same time that he preserved traditional Roman monumentality. However, since 1546 he had been increasingly active as an architect; in particular, he was Chief Architect to St Peter's and was doing more there than had been done for thirty years. This was the greatest architectural undertaking in Christendom, and Michelangelo did it, as he did all his late works, solely for the glory of God.

In his last years he made a number of drawings of the Crucifixion, wrote much of his finest poetry, and carved the Pietà (now in Florence Cathedral Museum) which was originally intended for his own tomb, as well as the nearly abstract Rondanini Pietà (Milan, Castello). This last work, in which the very forms of the Dead Christ actually merge with those of His Mother, is charged with an emotional intensity which contemporaries recognized as Michelangelo's 'terribilità'. He was working on it to within a few days of his death, in his 89th year, on 18 February 1564. There is a whole world of difference between it and the 'beautiful' Pietà in St Peter's, carved some sixty-five years earlier.

Genre Michelangelo is considered to be in the period of the High Renaissance between

1495 and 1527. Pure fresco was his preferred painting technique; he despised oil-painting, though

the now authenticated unfinished Entombment (London, National Gallery) is in oil over a tempera underpainting.

Michelangelo has a genre all to himself, his artistic abilities were never limited to one specific genre.

His works range from sculpture, to architecture, to oil paintings and original paintings.

Examples

Examples Cont.

Compare Michelangelo’s David compared to Bernini’s

David

Compare

My Piece

Christ Carrying The Cross

1521

Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome

Description My first response to this piece was utter shock to the fact that someone

sculpted this in 1521. This piece was “the last” of Michelangelo’s great sculptures that he did during his life. This piece makes me feel like this is one of the most beautiful sculptures in the world. Not to become very religious about it, but as a Christian it makes me feel like throughout the history of crucifix paintings and sculptures this one certainly tops most if not all of the ones previously made or made since then.

This sculpture made me think of all the times I went to church and saw the pictures of Christ throughout my life, and how Michelangelo depicted Christ and his journey with the cross. It makes me think of how amazing it is that Michelangelo was able to so much detail into the human body.

This Sculpture reminds me of the movie “The Passion” when Chris is carrying his cross after being whipped. It also reminds me of all the reasons why we as Christians go to church and worship God.

Analysis First of all the most noticeable thing that I see is the larger than

Christ cross that Christ is holding. He is also wearing a brown clothe around his waist that is “covering him up” it looks like it was formed from bronze. I also notice a cane or a walking stick in his left hand, depicting that he has started his journey to his final destination.

There is an outstanding feature in the sculpture and that’s the detail of the body of Christ. Michelangelo sculpted in detail every muscle and bone in Christ’s body, as well and his hair and facial hair.

This sculpture I believe was made very quickly. I believe that he didn’t spend a lot of time on it at all because I think that he did it as a time waster between bigger projects. The reason I think this is because, it was only marked as worked on for one year. Another reason is that around that time he started the Medici Chapel another one of his masterpieces.

Interpretation This work to me shows Michelangelo’s love for

Christ through art work. It was very common for an artist to be commissioned by a church, in this case the Vatican to have religious art done for them. But this was a piece done by Michelangelo on his own accord. This work was devoted to Christ. His work throughout the Vatican and Italy was always somewhat religious, and unlike much of the artists that work with the church or in a church, Michelangelo was actually religious.

Evaluation This piece of work spoke out to me from the

beginning. Originally I decided to do the Pieta but I wanted to do something close to my heart and something I know that Michelangelo took pride in. My feelings towards this sculpture has increased since I saw it in Italy, and in doing this sculpture for my Feldman model was a correct choice. This is one of Michelangelo’s masterpieces along with many others, although it is skipped over most of the time by his other achievements. Michelangelo’s many achievements have given him the title “Greatest Artist in Vatican History”.

Citations Michelangelo

Biography-www.wga.hu/bio/m/michelan/biograph.html --www.artinthepicture.com/artists/Michelangelo/Biography/

Pictures- http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/m/michelan/biograph.html--wwar.com/masters/m/michelangelo.html