Michaelangelo: The Life And Life Of Michelangelo

Michelangelo’s full name is Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. He was born on March 6, 1475 and passed away on February 18, 1564 at the age of 88 (Biography). Michelangelo was a painter, sculptor and architect during the Italian Renaissance period (History). His work demonstrated a variety of psychological insights, physical realism and intensity, During that time, Michelangelo received commissions from some of the most wealthy and powerful men as well as the Catholic Church to create art pieces for their homes or buildings. His works, including the “Pieta” and the “David statues, and the ceiling paintings of Rome's Sistine Chapel (Biography). Michelangelo was born in a family with a banking business and that allowed him to have an

The “Pieta” is a sculpture of Mary holding the dead Jesus across her lap. This is one of the key events from the life of the Virgin Mary, known as the “Seven Sorrows of Mary,” which were the subject of Catholic devotional prayers (Italian Renaissance). During that time, that live of Christ were “a popular theme” in the Northern Europe since the fourteenth century (Rome). Michelangelo completed the sculpture in less than a year. The “Pieta” was then moved to Cardinal’s tomb. The sculpture stands at 6 feet wide and 5 feet 9 inches tall (Rome). Since then, the statue has moved 5 times and it is currently at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City (Biography). In the late fifteenth century, the statue was depicted in artworks more commonly in France and Germany than in Italy (Italian

The Renaissance statue was sculpted between 1501 and 1504 and standing at 13 feet 5 inches tall at the Accademia Gallery in Florence (Accademia). The statue of David, represented as a standing nude male, depicted the Biblical hero David (Accademia). The whole project was commissioned by the Opera del Duoumo for the Cathedral of Florence when Michelangelo was 26 years old (Italian Renaissance). The artist accepted the challenge to sculpt “David” and worked constantly for over two years to create “one of his most breathtaking masterpieces of gleaming white marble” (Accademia). Usually, the Biblical hero is depicted after the battle with Goliath; however, Michelangelo decided to depict the hero before the battle. Michelangelo was able to depict the moment that David is “tense, concentrated, relax, but alert, and resting on a contrapposto post” (Accademia). According to Accademia, the contrapposto post is when the figure stands with one leg holding its full weight and the other leg forward, causing the figure’s hips and shoulders to rest at opposing angles, giving a slight s-curve to the entire torso (Accademia). The statue of David “became the symbol, the liberty and freedom of the Republican ideals” (Italian Renaissance). The statue was placed in front of Palazzo della Signoria until 1873, and moved to the Galleria dell’Accademia to