Essay On Michelangelo

Life of Michelangelo

An architect, poet, sculptor, and painter are some of the terms that define Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. Michelangelo was one the of the most influential artists of his generation. He was born in Caprese, Italy on March 6, 1475 and died in Rome on February 18, 1564. Michelangelo’s early life and work consisted of him becoming an apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio, a painter in Florence, at the age of 13, after his father knew that he had no interest in the family business. The painter then moves on and joins Lorenzo de’ Medici’s household, where he learns and studies with the painters and sculptors that lived under the Medici roof. As a sculptor Michelangelo carved magnificent statues, he was invited to Rome

As time went on Michelangelo goes on the create some of the best Statues and paintings known to man today. Aside from his “artistic” life Michelangelo was also an architect and a poet, he designed buildings such as the Laurentian Library and the Medici Chapel, but his biggest accomplishment came in 1546, became the head architect of Peter’s Basilica. For him when it came it poetry, he wrote over 300 poems that have come to be known as “Michelangelo's sonnets,” which are still read by people to this day. Even Though, he is known for his memorable sculptures and paintings, Michelangelo did not have the best personality. He was short-tempered, so he did not really work well with others, when Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he fired all of his workers, because he wanted everything to the peak of perfection. A lot Michelangelo’s works did remain unfinished, but the ones that he did complete are still some of the best in history; from Pieta, David, The Last Judgement, to the ceiling

It took him four years to complete the whole ceiling. The Sistine Chapel is located in Vatican City, Italy which is the headquarters for the Roman Catholic Church. Michelangelo started painting the ceiling at the top of the altar and made his way towards the other side and ended by the entrance to the chapel. The 65-foot wide ceiling was painted in a such a way that, the viewer had to be standing at the farthest side of the altar wall in order to get the “best viewing point.” The whole story line of the entire ceiling was centered around the Old Testament; Michelangelo began with painting the Creation of the world and he finished with the story of Noah and the Flood. Michelangelo painted 12 female prophets around the outer edges of the ceiling, and in the remaining strip of the Ceiling at the center, he paints nine Genesis scenes, which included: the Creation of the World, Adam and Eve, and Noah, with 3 scenes from each story. All of these scenes were framed by a grisaille molding and statues in order for them to stand out from the other paintings. The colors in the painting have brightened up the whole chapel as a whole. The ceiling itself was painted a grayish and whitish tone, while the figures are painted different colors from pale to gold-bronze to very tan; it all depended on the person portrayed in the painting. A lot of the figures that exist in the spaces between the frames have