Michelangelo
Michelangelo, full name Michelagniolo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564). Italian painter, sculptor, architect, and poet. One of the supreme geniuses of the Italian Renaissance, he grew up in Florence and was encouraged as a youth by his patron, Lorenzo de’ Medici. He lived in the Medici palace until Lorenzo’s death in 1492. In 1496 he went to Rome, where he produced the famous sculpture of the Pieta. After returning to Florence in 1501, he sculpted the statue of David from a block of marble that other sculptors had found impossible to use. He was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican. This mural, based on Genesis, and the Last Judgment which he painted later on the wall of the chapel, are perhaps his best-known paintings. Michelangelo also designed the tomb of Pope Julius and the Medici sepulchral chapel in Florence. He became the chief architect of St Peter’s in Rome and de-signed its dome. His poetry includes sonnets and madrigals.
“He was a good sort of man, but didn’t know how to paint. El Greco on Michelangelo”
