Info about Paintings
Michaelangelo: The Most Famous Renaissance Painter
Michelangelo was born in Caprese, Italy. His father’s occupation was being the local magistrate. When he was 12 years old he went to school and became a famous painter’s apprentice in Florence, Ghirlandaio. About one year later he quit painting and started sculpting. At this time he lived with a powerful Italian family, the Medici’s. He moved to Rome, Italy after the Medici family lost power. At 23 years old he created the marble sculpture “Pieta.”, which is a sculptor of Mary holding Jesus after His body removed from the cross. The sculpture is displayed in Rome, Italy, but several years somebody attacked it and damaged it. It was repaired, but now you cannot touch it because it is enclosed in a large glass case.
Michelangelo did not consider himself a painter, he considered himself a sculptor. Around the year 1501 he carved a marble sculpture of David. David was the boy in the Bible that fought Goliath, the giant. Sometimes Michelangelo described his work as a prisoner trapped inside a large piece of marble that needed freedom brought by his chisel. Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. Michelangelo turned down the offer at first, but he finally agreed to the request. This painting illustrated nine scenes of the Old Testament; three of Noah, three of Adam and three of Eve, and the world’s creation. There are also paintings of other figures and prophets of the Old Testament. He also painted the ancestors of Jesus in the panels that were crescent shaped. Today this is his most famous piece of work and covers over 1,000 square yards.
Michelangelo had to plan ahead while he was working on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel because applied paint directly to the wet plaster, so he would only apply as much wet plaster as he would be paint on that day. If he made a mistake, he would wait until the plaster dried and pry it off and start over on that section.
The Sistine Chapel’s ceiling of the is the size of a gym and 68 feet high. He insisted on doing all of the work himself, so he built a scaffolding, climbed up and lay flat of his back to paint. He had paint dripped on his face body ached and, but he continued until he finished the work. It was a very tedious task. It took approximately four years, he started in 1508 and did not finish it until 1512.
Years after that Michelangelo came back to paint a very large fresco of The Last Judgment behind the alter in the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo painted all of the people without any clothing. As soon as the pope saw the painting he was very embarrassed so he hired another artist to go back and paint clothing on the people. This made Michelangelo furious.
He spent nearly two decades working for the Medici’s after they returned to power. He designed the Medici Chapel and their tombs. During this time Julius II hired him to carve 40 marble sculptures for his tomb. However, only three of them were finished.
The next decade of Michelangelo’s life was spent working for Pope Paul III in Rome. It was during this time he began constructing St. Peter’s Church dome and painted the Last Judgment. Michelangelo died at the age of 89.