Michelangelo Buonarroti

(1475–1564)

   Artist.

   Michelangelo was the son of a minor Italian nobleman. He studied both painting and sculpture in Florence and in 1534 he settled permanently in Rome. He was subject to two major influences: on the one hand that of the sensuous beauty of the Classical world and, on the other, the austere religious vision of savonarola. He was inspired by biblical subjects and his sculptures included David, Moses, St John in the Wilderness and the famous Pieta. Among his paintings were the frescos for the Sistine Chapel on which he worked for a total of eleven years. The subjects included both the Creation and the Last Judgement. As an architect, he was responsible for the Medici Memorial Chapel and a reworking of the plan of St Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. Michelangelo must be reckoned, with leonardo, as one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance – and indeed of all time.

   J.S. Ackerman, The Architecture of Michelangelo, 2 vols (1961);

   L. Goldscheider (ed.), The Paintings of Michelangelo (1939);

   L. Goldscheider (ed.), The Sculptures of Michelangelo (1940);

   J.A. Symonds, The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, 2^nd edn (1983).