Michelangelo

The Spark of the Renaissance Age

Who was the man that sparked the Renaissance Age and changed art forever? Michelangelo Buonarroti was one of the best known artists of his time and still has a huge impact on how art appears today. Michelangelo was a major figure in Italy after people started realizing his talents. Michelangelo always loved art every since he was young, but never thought that he would become so talented and famous. Michelangelo was no different than any other kid of his time, but his early life was very difficult and influential, which made him the talented artist that he was and helped him create the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo Buonarroti had a difficult and hardworking early life. Half of his childhood was revolved around art and learning. Michelangelo was born in Caprese, Tuscany, where he spent much of his time at the blacksmith and watching people sculpt after he finished working for his father(Lee). He said "The sound of a chisel and hammer is music(Cook)." Michelangelo was a highly religious Christian and based almost all of his artwork on the beliefs of Christianity. The town greatly influenced him and helped develop the talented artist. At age six Michelangelo's mother died, which inspired him to chase his dream, art. Many paintings of his early work symbolized his mother's death and showed emotion.

He soon had lessons from a local artist named Francesco Granacci, who worked with him for the next couple of years(Harris). Granacci was amazed at how fast Michelangelo learned and how much he excelled compared to Granacci's other students(Ryan). Around age thirteen Michelangelo moved to Florence and began working as an assistant to Domenico Ghirlanaio, who was a very famous fresco painter in Florence(Cook). After one year of apprenticeship with Ghirlanaio, Lorenzo de' Medici, a very wealthy and famous artist, saw potential in Michelangelo and helped greatly in his success. Medici let Michelangelo roam the gardens and examine all of the sculptures in the Classical statuary. It was at the statuary where Michelangelo began to learn the secrets of sculpting(Ryan). He taught himself by drawing statues and attempting to recreate them in clay. Not only was Michelangelo focusing on art, he was in contact with the most brilliant thinkers, artists, and writers of his day. This experience enriched his life and his consciousness, which also played a key part in developing the astonishing artist that he became.

"Already at 16, my mind was a battlefield: my love of pagan beauty, the male nude, at war with my religious faith. A polarity of themes and forms - one spiritual, the other earthly(Lee 3)."

Michelangelo said this to show that his mind was a mess from all the art, but his love is still growing. The quote also explains that his artwork is based on his religion and what was going on in the world. His early life soon led to all of his successful artwork.

Very large amounts of Michelangelo's work were sculptures, and they always turned out astonishing. Michelangelo had many sculptures and loved making them; over eighty percent of his works were sculptures(Nosotro). Michelangelo asked the church if he could study anatomy at the church to help perfect his artwork. After handing them a wood crucifix, his wishes were granted(Nosotro). His first masterpiece was the PietÐo. The PietÐo was a sculpture of Madonna holding Christ's lifeless body in her arms, it was made of marble(Bradbury). Michelangelo overheard a crowd of pilgrims discussing the PietÐo and they didn't know who carved the beautiful statue. Michelangelo left without saying anything, but the next day one of the church administrators discovered a sash draped around the statue that said "Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florence, made this(Cook)." Another famous sculpture of Michelangelo's was Bacchus. The statue has Bacchus holding lion skin in his left hand, the symbol of death, and a bunch of grapes in his right hand, the symbol of life, from which the faun is feeding(Harris). This sculpture had a strong physical presence that was very rare in Rome. Bacchus was later placed in Galli's garden, without an arm, to look convincingly ancient(Harris). The most famous statue of Michelangelo's is David. Michelangelo created David from a block of 5.5 meter high block of marble that he won at a celebration of civil art(Harris). The sculpture was David after he defeated the giant Goliath. He was shown naked and very strong. The statue of David is now a big figure of Italy.

Michelangelo rarely painted, but when he did they turned out amazing. A very famous painting done by Michelangelo was The Holy Family. It was a panel created for Doni Tondo's wedding. The Holy Family was very colorful and bright, seemingly polished by the light falling onto it, which was rarely seen in the 1500's(Harris). Another of his works that had a similar style was most of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo's most famous painting and maybe his most famous artwork all together is the Sistine Chapel.