Michelangelo

He was born as Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, Italy, to Leonardo di Buonarrota Simoni, a magistrate in the small village, and his wife, Francesca Neri. Michelangelo was the second of five sons in the family.

Due to his mother's prolonged illness and subsequent death, he was placed under the care of a family of stonecutters at the age of six. With little interest in academics, he enjoyed drawing and was later introduced to painter Domenico Ghirlandaio.

At the age of 13, his father arranged for him to be apprenticed at Ghirlandaio’s workshop where he was exposed to the technique of fresco. After a year at the workshop, Ghirlandaio recommended him to the palace of the Florentine ruler, Lorenzo the Magnificent, where he studied classical sculpture in the Medici gardens.

From 1489 to 1492, he spent time with the Medici family which helped him meet the social elite of the city, exposing him to prominent poets and scholars. During this period, he sculpted the reliefs ‘Madonna of the Steps’ (1490–1492) and ‘Battle of the Centaurs’ (1491–1492).

In 1492, after the death of Lorenzo, the Medici family fell from power, causing him to flee to Bologna where he continued his studies. In 1494, he carved three saints for the church of San Domenico.

In 1495, he returned to Florence and began his work as a sculptor. During the half year he spent in Florence, he worked on two small statues, a child ‘St. John the Baptist’ and a sleeping Cupid.

Impressed by the quality of his design, Cardinal Raffaele Riario invited him to Rome and commissioned him to work on a statue of the Roman wine god Bacchus.

In 1497, he was commissioned by Cardinal Jean de Bilhères-Lagraulas to work on ‘Pieta’, a sculpture showing the Virgin Mary grieving over the body of Jesus, which is currently located in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.

In 1499, he returned to Florence again but this time as an art star. He was recognized as the most talented sculptor of Italy and was commissioned to carve a statue of ‘David’. He turned a huge piece of marble into a dominating figure which was placed on the gable of Florence Cathedral.

At the age of 25, he carved ‘Pieta’, a sculpture in which Mary supports the dead Christ across her knees. Created from a single piece of Carrara marble, the fluidity of its fabric and the positions of the subjects were awe-inspiring for its early spectators and still remains one of his most admired works.

His most ambitious project was the design of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling which contains over 300 figures. Although the original plan was to paint 12 apostles, he proposed a more complex scheme which resulted in a supreme work of High Renaissance art incorporating the Christian symbology and prophecy.