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- David (1501-04) It has to be David, right? The artist was just 26 when he sculpted David. Even at the time it brought him to the heights of artistic fame for its sheer bravura.
- The Creation of Adam (1508-12) Pope Julius II paused Michelangelo’s long labor on the papal tomb to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The artist wasn’t interested in accepting the commission—he was a sculptor, not a painter, after all—but he was pressured into it.
- The Last Judgment (1536–41) “The twist into depth, the struggle to escape from the here and now of the picture plane, which had always distinguished Michelangelo from the Greeks, became the dominating rhythm of his later works,” Kenneth Clark once wrote.
- Pietà (1498-99) During the 15th century, the theme of Mary cradling Jesus once he was taken down from the cross—other wise known as a pietà—was commonly depicted in Northern European art but less so in Italy.
- Overview
- Early life and works
The frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1508–12) in the Vatican, which include the iconic depiction of the creation of Adam interpreted from Genesis, are probably the best known of Michelangelo’s works today, but the artist thought of himself primarily as a sculptor. His famed sculptures include the David (1501), now in the Accademia in Florence, and the Pietà (1499), now in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.
Read more below: The middle years: The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
Pietà
Find out about the Pietà, a popular theme in Christian art.
Why is Michelangelo so famous?
Michelangelo first gained notice in his 20s for his sculptures of the Pietà (1499) and David (1501) and cemented his fame with the ceiling frescoes of the Sistine Chapel (1508–12). He was celebrated for his art’s complexity, physical realism, psychological tension, and thoughtful consideration of space, light, and shadow. Many writers have commented on his ability to turn stone into flesh and to imbue his painted figures with energy. Michelangelo’s talent continued to be recognized in subsequent centuries, and thus his fame has endured into the 21st century.
Michelangelo Buonarroti was born to a family that had for several generations belonged to minor nobility in Florence but had, by the time the artist was born, lost its patrimony and status. His father had only occasional government jobs, and at the time of Michelangelo’s birth he was administrator of the small dependent town of Caprese. A few months later, however, the family returned to its permanent residence in Florence. It was something of a downward social step to become an artist, and Michelangelo became an apprentice relatively late, at 13, perhaps after overcoming his father’s objections. He was apprenticed to the city’s most prominent painter, Domenico Ghirlandaio, for a three-year term, but he left after one year, having (Condivi recounts) nothing more to learn. Several drawings, copies of figures by Ghirlandaio and older great painters of Florence, Giotto and Masaccio, survive from this stage; such copying was standard for apprentices, but few examples are known to survive. Obviously talented, he was taken under the wing of the ruler of the city, Lorenzo de’ Medici, known as the Magnificent. Lorenzo surrounded himself with poets and intellectuals, and Michelangelo was included. More important, he had access to the Medici art collection, which was dominated by fragments of ancient Roman statuary. (Lorenzo was not such a patron of contemporary art as legend has made him; such modern art as he owned was to ornament his house or to make political statements.) The bronze sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni, a Medici friend who was in charge of the collection, was the nearest he had to a teacher of sculpture, but Michelangelo did not follow his medium or in any major way his approach. Still, one of the two marble works that survive from the artist’s first years is a variation on the composition of an ancient Roman sarcophagus, and Bertoldo had produced a similar one in bronze. This composition is the Battle of the Centaurs (c. 1492). The action and power of the figures foretell the artist’s later interests much more than does the Madonna of the Stairs (c. 1491), a delicate low relief that reflects recent fashions among such Florentine sculptors as Desiderio da Settignano.
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Florence was at this time regarded as the leading centre of art, producing the best painters and sculptors in Europe, and the competition among artists was stimulating. The city was, however, less able than earlier to offer large commissions, and leading Florentine-born artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Leonardo’s teacher, Andrea del Verrocchio, had moved away for better opportunities in other cities. The Medici were overthrown in 1494, and even before the end of the political turmoil Michelangelo had left.
In Bologna he was hired to succeed a recently deceased sculptor and carve the last small figures required to complete a grand project, the tomb and shrine of St. Dominic (1494–95). The three marble figures are original and expressive. Departing from his predecessor’s fanciful agility, he imposed seriousness on his images by a compactness of form that owed much to Classical antiquity and to the Florentine tradition from Giotto onward. This emphasis on seriousness is also reflected in his choice of marble as his medium, while the accompanying simplification of masses is in contrast to the then more usual tendency to let representations match as completely as possible the texture and detail of human bodies. To be sure, although these are constant qualities in Michelangelo’s art, they often are temporarily abandoned or modified because of other factors, such as the specific functions of works or the stimulating creations of other artists. This is the case with Michelangelo’s first surviving large statue, the Bacchus, produced in Rome (1496–97) following a brief return to Florence. (A wooden crucifix, recently discovered, attributed by some scholars to Michelangelo and now housed in the Casa Buonarroti in Florence, has also been proposed as the antecedent of the Bacchus in design by those who credit it as the artist’s work.) The Bacchus relies on ancient Roman nude figures as a point of departure, but it is much more mobile and more complex in outline. The conscious instability evokes the god of wine and Dionysian revels with extraordinary virtuosity. Made for a garden, it is also unique among Michelangelo’s works in calling for observation from all sides rather than primarily from the front.
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- Doni Tondo. Doni Tondo is a painting produced by Michelangelo Buonarroti between 1506 and 1507. This painting by the Italian artist was also widely known by the name “The Holy Family” and was completed by Michelangelo without the help of his assistants.
- The Moses. The Moses is a sculpture produced by Michelangelo Buonarroti between 1513 and 1515. The sculpture can be viewed at the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome.
- The Entombment. The Entombment is a painting produced by Michelangelo between 1500 and 1501. This is an unfinished painting by the Italian artist in which Jesus body is being placed in a garden’s tomb.
- David. David is a sculpture produced by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni between 1501 and 1504. Michelangelo’s artwork, David, is a representation of what is beauty in art.
- Early Life and Training. Michelangelo Buonarroti (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni) was born on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, Italy. His father worked for the Florentine government, and shortly after his birth his family returned to Florence, the city Michelangelo would always consider his true home.
- Sculptures: The Pieta and David. Michelangelo was working in Rome by 1498 when he received a career-making commission from the visiting French cardinal Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas, envoy of King Charles VIII to the pope.
- Paintings: Sistine Chapel. In 1505, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to sculpt a grand tomb with 40 life-size statues, and the artist began work.
- Architecture & Poems. The quintessential Renaissance man, Michelangelo continued to sculpt and paint until his death, although he increasingly worked on architectural projects as he aged: His work from 1520 to 1527 on the interior of the Medici Chapel in Florence included wall designs, windows and cornices that were unusual in their design and introduced startling variations on classical forms.
Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, were sculpted before the age of 30. Although he did not consider himself a painter, Michelangelo created two of the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and The Last Judgment on its altar wall.
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Jun 14, 2020 · Discover the legacy of Michelangelo, the Italian artist who excelled in sculpture, painting and architecture. Learn about his most famous works, such as the Pietà, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and the David.
Learn about the creation, history and meaning of Michelangelo's David, the most famous statue in Florence and one of the greatest works of art ever made. Discover how the artist revolutionized the representation of David and why the statue became a symbol of freedom and democracy.
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