Michelangelo

1475

He grew up in Medici Florence.

💡 Did you know? Michelangelo lived almost 89 years (remarkably old for the Renaissance) and worked until shortly before his death.

Renaissance

Michelangelo was one of the towering figures of the Italian High Renaissance: sculptor, painter and architect at once.

💡 Did you know? With Leonardo and Raphael he forms the „great trio“ of the High Renaissance.

sculptor

Michelangelo always saw himself first as a sculptor: he took on the Sistine painting only reluctantly.

💡 Did you know? He took on painting the Sistine ceiling only reluctantly.

David

The statue became a symbol of human perfection.

💡 Did you know? The over-5-metre „David“ was carved from a marble block other sculptors had abandoned as useless.

the Sistine Chapel ceiling

He worked on it for four years on scaffolding.

💡 Did you know? For four years Michelangelo painted the ceiling standing on scaffolding with his head bent back: not lying down, as is often told.

Il Divino

He lived to almost ninety and died in 1564.

💡 Did you know? Called „Il Divino“ (the Divine) in his own lifetime, Michelangelo was one of the first artists to have a biography written about him.

David

A marble statue over five metres tall, about 1501 to 1504.

💡 Did you know? The „David“ stands poised to fight Goliath: a symbol of the defiant freedom of the Florentine Republic.

The Creation of Adam

Part of the Sistine ceiling: the almost-touching fingers of God and man.

💡 Did you know? The nearly touching fingers of God and Adam are among the most quoted images in art history.

Pietà (Michelangelo)

A marble group in St Peter's, around 1499: one of his early masterpieces.

💡 Did you know? Michelangelo was only 24: it is the only work he ever signed, after others credited it to a rival.

The Last Judgment

A monumental fresco on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.

💡 Did you know? The many nudes on the altar wall soon seemed indecent; a painter had to add loincloths afterwards.

Sistine Chapel ceiling

Painted around 1508.

💡 Did you know? Michelangelo painted over 300 figures on the ceiling: the central cycle tells the story of Creation.

Madonna of Bruges

Painted around 1503.

💡 Did you know? The only sculpture by Michelangelo to leave Italy in his lifetime, to Bruges in Flanders.

Moses

Painted around 1510.

💡 Did you know? The Moses bears horns: an old mistranslation of the Bible that Michelangelo followed.

Doni Tondo

Painted around 1500.

💡 Did you know? Michelangelo's only secure panel painting: the powerful, twisting figures look like painted sculptures.

Bacchus

Painted around 1497.

💡 Did you know? The slightly swaying wine god was one of his first great sculptures: deliberately modelled as „drunk.“

The Torment of Saint Anthony

Painted around 1487.

💡 Did you know? A work by Michelangelo aged just 12 or 13: his earliest known painting.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo (1475 to 1564) was an Italian sculptor, painter and architect of the High Renaissance who created in the „David“ and the Sistine ceiling icons of art.

💡 Did you know? Michelangelo was so obsessed with his work that he barely slept, rarely washed and „freed“ the marble he said was trapped within.