Italian Renaissance: Michelangelo

Italian Renaissance was one of the more inventive eras in the history of art. It was made up of a sizable number of talented masters who were experts in a variety of disciplines, including painting, sculpture, and architecture. Excellent innovators in every field emerged in the first half of the fifteenth century, and their exceptional contributions to the history of art marked the start of a new age. Masaccio was the father of painting, while Brunelleschi was the father of architecture. Donatello was the person in the sculpture field (University of Oxford). Their closest friend, Leon Battista Alberti, helped them organize their principles and practices in his theoretical writings. Regarding this, the social status of the artist changed since he was initially an artisan but now he had been included in the group of practitioners of the liberal arts. Ideally, the post was considered to be on a higher level compared to mechanical arts. Despite that, some of the masters like Titian and Michelangelo took advantage of the opportunity since they had an outstanding personality as well as being intelligent. Therefore, the two achieved a high status level and earned respect compared to the predecessors. Michelangelo who was the most genius was named divine due to his mighty approach towards creativity.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo was considered as an artist who is inspirational and talented according to the modern history. His existence brought a remarkable change in the western world after the Roman Empire ended. The Italian Renaissance brought changes to both life and culture. Besides, it is associated with various dramatic reforms in politics, religion as well as scientific beliefs (Intuit quickbooks). The remarkable works and the extra ordinary talent of Michelangelo were recognized by the contemporary society. His early works like Pieta for the Vatican and statue of David were very outstanding.

Early life

Michelangelo was born on 6th March in the year 1475 at Caprese, which is near Arezzo, Tuscany. Ideally, he was among the first artists to be identified during that period. Despite that, his biography was written and published while he is still alive. There were two biographies of Michelangelo. Giorgio Vasari wrote the first one, in praise of Michelangelo as the outstanding artist during the Renaissance. In addition to that, in the 16th Century he was documented as the best artist who brought about influence in the development of art in the West. In collaboration with Leonardo Da Vinci, both of them stood out as commendable personalities with a focused attitude towards art. Despite that, they had a strong bond as well as deep understanding while they carried out the artwork.

School

Michelangelo was sent to Florence grammar school when he was 6 years old although he had no interest in learning. He enjoyed watching the painters at the churches nearby and later on copies the drawings of what he viewed. After his father’s realization that he was not interested in running the business of the family, he understood and decided to send him to be trained as an apprentice by painter Ghirlandaio. He was barely 13 years old when he enrolled for training at Florentine painter’s workshop where he learnt various techniques like draftsmanship and Fresco.



Household of Lorenzo de Medici

After spending one year at the workshop, Michelangelo moved to the palace that belonged to the Florentine ruler named Lorenzo the Magnificent, of the mighty family of Medici. Most lessons were carried out at the Medici gardens and his aim was to study classical sculpture. His teacher was the famous sculptor named Bertoldo di Giovanni. From there he had a great encounter with great artists like Giotto, Masaccio, and Donatello. Besides that, he interacted with the antiquities of masterpiece of ancient Greece as well as Rome. All of these remarkable works were present in the Medici’s vast collection. In addition to that, he associated himself with many living artists, thinkers of the day, writers as well as philosophers. The artists were Poliziano, Pico Della Mirandola and Marsilio Ficino. Michelangelo managed to finish his first two commissions that were Battle of the Centaurs and Madonna of the Stairs while still at the Medici. For a teenager, these works were too complicated and sophisticated but he managed. Regarding this, he became a young expert in the presentation of the forms of human, drawing from life as well as studying human anatomy. In addition to that, the Catholic Church granted him permission to analyze human corpses in a way of studying anatomy, although, his health deteriorated due to the multiple exposure to corpses.

Back home

Michelangelo decided to leave the court immediately after the death of Lorenzo de Medici. As soon as Savonarola arrived, the Medicis were expelled from Florence and this greatly affected the upcoming young artist. He shortly returned to his home and left again during the period of political upheaval. He had always kept in touch with his patrons and therefore followed them to Venice and later to Bologna.

Mighty works at Bologna

He went ahead with his work as a sculptor while in Bologna. He made three statues for the decoration of St. Dominic’s Shrine. The statues were of an angel holding a candlestick, with saints who are Petronius and Proculus (Gilbert). Through the influence and inspiration by the classical antiquities, he passed off his sculpture named marble cupid to be part of ancient work. Initially, Lorenzo de Medici had told him to design it in a way to look as if it is dug up, for it to be sold in Rome. The piece was bought by Cardinal Raffaele Riario who was impressed by the sculpture quality despite the identification of the deception. Consequently, he got an invitation to Rome.

At 21 years of age, Michelangelo went to Rome in the year 1496 as per the invitation by the Cardinal. During his period in Rome, he sculpted Pieta, which is currently in St.Peters at Vatican that represents Virgin Mary crying over the body of Christ. He later visited the marble quarry and chose the marble for this piece all by himself. Often times, Michelangelo used to visualize the completed sculpture by mere gazing at the stone block.

In the year 1504, he went back to Florence. By this time, he was one man at the peak of creativity. He concentrated on the making of the sculpture of David, which shows the time when he fights Goliath. This was a symbol of freedom for the Florentine. The sculpture is regarded as a masterpiece of both line and forms. A committee that included Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli reached at the agreement on the placement of the sculpture in front of Palazzo Vecchio.

Off to Rome

Michelangelo willingly accepted a lot of sculptures, paintings as well as commissions while in Florence although most of them were left un attended in the year 1505 when he called back to Rome. The main reason why he was needed urgently was to work on the Tomb of Pope Julius II. The period for the completion of the work was 5 years but Michelangelo took a period of 40 years with various interruptions although the work did not impress him. By good luck, he accomplished his best and well-known work, the fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel that he spent four years to complete (Italian Renaissance.org).

The great fresco has more than three hundred figures on over five hundred square meters of the ceiling. He spent four good years while lying on his back in the completion of this great work. This particular work today stands as a testament to the dedication and accomplished artistry of this one man. The illustrated scenes are from the Book of Genesis that involves the creation of Abraham. The iconic images are the outstanding hands of God and Adam. It is the most famous and imitated work of any piece of Renaissance. Throughout his work, Michelangelo illustrated a deep understanding regarding the human form and how it is depicted in different styles in a large array.

Later years and death

Michelangelo proceeded with painting and sculpturing until his death. He majorly focused on the architectural projects, as he got old. From the year 1520 to 1527, he used to work in the Medici Chapel situated in Florence, where he made unique wall designs, windows as well as cornices. Besides that, he designed an iconic dome for St. Basilica located in Rome. This iconic dome was completed after his death though. There are other masterpieces like Moses sculpture that was completed in 1515; The Last Judgment painting that was completed in the year 1534. Besides that, there are the others like Day, Night, Dawn and Dusk sculptures that were completed in 1533.

Michelangelo wrote poems in the 1530s and about three hundred of them survived. Most of the poems talk about the philosophy of Neo-Platonism; meaning that a human soul that is filled with love and ecstasy has the ability to have a union with God. This idea had been a great discussion subject during his stay at the household of Lorenzo de’ Medici. He left to Rome from Florence permanently in the year 1534. Despite that, he wrote lyrical letters to the other members of his family in Rome. The letters illustrated a theme of how he was strongly attached to a variety of young men like Tommaso Cavalieri who was an aristocrat. Various debates by scholars suggested that it was an expression of homosexuality, childlessness or the bittersweet awaiting to get married. The demise of Michelangelo occurred after a short illness in the year 1564 at the age of 88. He was buried at Basilica di Santa Croce.

Conclusion

Concerning the Italian Renaissance, there is a close connection between art and science. Artists as well as the scientists strove for the physical world mastery; therefore, the art of painting satisfied both of the two study fields. Scientifically, in anatomy, it represents the human body. On the other hand, it is seen basing on the mathematical perspective. The ideal perspective in painting is focusing on two-dimension structural surface rather than three-dimension structure. Early painters succeeded in carrying out the painting in this form through empirical means. Brunelleschi discovered the correct mathematical procedure of finding out the three-dimensional surface in 1420. After that, the painters utilized the method and it resulted to be one of the important instruments used by the artists.





















Works Cited

Gilbert, Creighton. E. The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti. University of Pennsylvania, 2017.

Intuit quickbooks. Michelangelo, his Paintings, and Sculptures. 2017. 10 December 2017 .

Italian Renaissance.org. Michelangelo’s Painting of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. 9 May 2015. 10 December 2017 .

University of Oxford. Byzatium and Italian Renaissance Art. 2017. 8 December 2017 .













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