Michelangelo: Great Leaders Of The Italian Renaissance

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Each of us has our own opinion of what a "Renaissance man" truly is. Some say he is a perfectionist in one subject, others say he is knowledgeable in many areas but master of none. People like Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Durer, and Michelangelo have all been acknowledged as great leaders of the Italian renaissance; they each brought something unique and extremely amazing to the art world. Michelangelo - being said as equal to da Vinci - brought his own style and technique into the public eye and changed the Renaissance with his originality.

The art world was changed in the 1500s when Michelangelo lived. The medieval, Gothic styles that had taken over in the times before was wiped away and replaced with intricate designs and old …show more content…

His father was the judicial administrator for a small town in Caprese. Michelangelo's mother died when he was six years old - 1481. Because of his father's time consuming job, he lived with a stone cutter and his wife and family after his mother died. He spent numerous years with the family, after leaving saying "If there is some good in me, it is because I was born in the subtle atmosphere of your country of Arezzo. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, with which I make my figures." He learned to handle marble with a chisel and hammer during his time with the family, a skill that would prove most necessary in his later years. He was sent by his father to study grammar with the humanist Francesco da Urbino, but showed no interest in schooling, instead focusing his attention on copying the paintings at the church and seeking the company of other artists. At the young age of thirteen, Michelangelo's father noticed his talent in the artistic field and he was sent off as an apprentice to the artist Dominico Ghirlandaio. His skill, however, soon exceeded that of his teacher and he was invited to the powerful Medici family's Humanist Academy. He studied sculpture under Bertoldo di Giovanni. The artistic viewpoint he formed at the academy would inspire great philosophers like Ficino, Mirandola, and Poliziano in their writings. During his time there, Michelangelo created the …show more content…

People requested sculptures and paintings, some as big as the David, and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He saw what he wanted in a blank canvas or slab of marble and could expertly recreate what he envisioned. "... I saw the angel and the marble and carved until I set him free..." "... Every block of stone has a statue inside of it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it..." (Michelangelo Quotes page 1) Michelangelo's biggest accomplishment was his amazing talent of sculpting lifelike figures with marble. It was something that had almost never been done before, at least not so expertly. Before his works, marble was used for small, simple pieces, but after he tackled giant projects like the David, the door of marble sculpting began to open to the art

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