Michelangelo Essay Sample

Michelangelo was a very passionate person. He had passion in his early years, towards his artworks and even in his final days. He loved art from his earliest years and even worked during his latter days.

Michelangelo had a decent family life when he was younger. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Somini was born on March 6th, 1475. He was born to a patrician banking family. Michelangelo’s father was a distant cousin of Lorenzo de Medici. His mother passed when he was just six-years-old. His father disapproved of his art career but realized he had no interest in the family’s financial business. While he never married, Michelangelo’s brother married into the Della Casa family (Encyclopedia.com). When Michelangelo was fourteen, he moved into Lorenzo the Magnificent’s palace in Florence. He returned to his father’s house for a short time before he followed the Medicis to Bologna after their expulsion from Florence (https://www.michelangelo.org/).

Michelangelo was well educated. At the age of six, his father sent him to a grammar school, but he showed no interest. His father sent him to start an apprenticeship with Ghirlandaio where he learned the technique of frescoes. He studied under Ghirlandaio for one year and he received the beginnings of humanist education (.Encyclopedia.com,www.michelangelo.org/). He also studied classical sculpture and painting under Giovanni Bellini. To study anatomy, he received special permission to examine corpses from the Catholic Church (https://www.michelangelo.org/).

Many of Michelangelo’s works and commissions were left incomplete. For example, he began painting a fresco, in 1504, of the Battle of Cascina for the Council of the Chamber Republic and never finished. Michelangelo never enjoyed painting as much as he did sculpting, explaining why he often refused big painting commissions. When asked to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he refused and claimed, “I am a sculptor, not a painter.” Eventually, he agreed to paint it. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel consists of nine scenes from the book of Genesis (Encyclopedia.com). The Last Judgement, a painting on the Alter wall of the Sistine Chapel, was added to the collection of fresco paintings several decades later as it was a separate commission. The Last Judgement took around seven years to complete. The Creation of Adam, another very popular fresco painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel,  is one of the most repurposed pieces of art. The Conversion of Saul, a fresco in the Vatican Palace, is about six meters wide and six meters tall (www.michelangelo.net/).

Michelangelo always preferred sculpting rather than painting. Michelangelo began sculpting at seventeen and completed his first two commissions in the Medici household (Encyclopedia.com,www.michelangelo.org/). While in Bologna he completed three statues, St. Dominic, Petronius, and Proculus. Michelangelo often picked out his blocks of marbles to sculpt claiming he could see a finished piece just by looking at the block (www.michelangelo.org/). One of his most famous sculptures, a sculpture of Moses, was a commission for Pope Julius II’s tomb. The Sculpture of Brutus was a commission requested by Donato Gioanotti and is the only completed bust sculpture of Michelangelo’s. The Sculpture of Bacchus is the only full-body sculpture of Michelangelo that is intended to be seen from all sides(www.michelangelo.net/).

Michelangelo changed the style of his poetry as time went on to match his art style of the time. In his earlier years, he wrote in an intricate style. The theme of his poetry in his early years was Neoplatonic love. In his later years, he wrote in a simple and direct style with the theme of Christianity (Encyclopedia.com).

Michelangelo devoted most of his commissions after 1545 to architecture. He was commissioned to construct many tombs, including the tombs of Pope Julius II and the tombs of two Medici dukes (Encyclopedia.com,www.michelangelo.org/).  Pope Julius II’s tomb took forty years to complete, with frequent breaks in between, yet the tomb was never finished to Michelangelo’s satisfaction. Michelangelo was commissioned to redesign Capitoline Hill, the center of ancient Rome, in 1538. He also directed the construction of the new St. Peter’s Basilica in 1547 (Encyclopedia.com).

During Michelangelo’s later years he returned to the theme of Pieta. The Duomo Pieta, a sculpture he began and intended for his tomb, was left unfinished by Michelangelo. Other sculptors later finished the Duomo Pieta and placed it in the Florence Cathedral. Michelangelo began sculpting the Rhondanini Pieta in 1555 but fell ill while working on it and passed away six days later on February 16th, 1564 (Encyclopedia.com).

Michelangelo can be a great inspiration to all artists. He introduced the use of dramatic scenes with hundreds of characters and he played a big part in the development of mannerisms throughout his years. He has greatly inspired famous45e4,l artists like Raphael and was one of the only artists that were recognized during his time (Encyclopedia.com).

Not only is Michelangelo a great inspiration to artists, but he can be a great inspiration for anyone. He is a worthy example of hard work and the result of it. Without Michelangelo, art, as we know it today, would not be the same.