Michelangelo \Michelangelo\ (m[imac]`k[e^]l*[a^]n"j[-e]*l[-o];
It. pron. m[-e]`k[e^]l*[aum]n"j[-e]*l[-o]) prop. n.
Michelangelo Buonarroti, renowned Italian painter, sculptor
and architect; 1475-1564.
[WordNet 1.5] Born Michelagnolo Buonarroti at Caprese, March
6, 1475: died at Rome, Feb. 18, 1564. A famous Italian
sculptor, painter, architect, and poet. He came of an ancient
but poor Florentine family. He was apprenticed to the painter
Ghirlandajo April 1, 1488, and with other boys from the
atelier began soon after to study the antique marbles
collected by Lorenzo de' Medici in the garden of San Marco.
Lorenzo discovered him there, and in 1489 took him into his
palace, where he had every opportunity for improvement and
study. The Centaur relief in the Casa Buonarroti was made at
this time, at the suggestion of Angelo Poliziano. In 1491 he
came under the influence of Savonarola, whom he always held
in great reverence. In 1492 Lorenzo died, and Michelangelo's
intimate relations with the Medici family terminated. In 1493
he made a large wooden crucifix for the prior of S. Spirito,
and with the assistance of the prior began the profound study
of anatomy in which he delighted. Before the expulsion of the
Medici he fled to Bologna, where he was soon engaged upon the
Arca di San Domenico begun by Niccolo Pisano in 1265, to
which he added the well-known kneeling angel of Bologna. He
was probably much influenced by the reliefs of Della Quercia
about the door of San Petronio: two of these he afterward
imitated in the Sistine chapel. In 1495 he returned to
Florence, when he is supposed to have made the San Giovannino
in the Berlin Museum. From 1496 to 1501 he lived in Rome. To
this period are attributed the Bacchus of the Bargello and
the Cupid of the South Kensington Museum. The most important
work of this time is the Piet[`a] di San Pietro (1408). In
1501 he returned to Florence, and Sept. 18 began the great
David of the Signoria, made from a block of marble abandoned
by Agostino di Duccio, which was placed in position May 18,
1504. The two roundels of the Madonna and Child in Burlington
House and the Bargello were probably made then, and also the
picture of the Holy Family in the Uffizi. In 1503 Piero
Soderini, gonfaloniere, projected two frescos for the Sala
Grande of the Palazzo Vecchio. The commission for one was
given to Leonardo da Vinci, that for the other to
Michelangelo in 1504. For it he prepared the great cartoon of
the Battle of Cascina, an incident in the war with Pisa when,
July 28, 1364, a band of 400 Florentines were attacked while
bathing by Sir John Hawkwood's English troopers. This cartoon
contained 288 square feet of surface, and was crowded with
nude figures in every position. It had, probably, more
influence upon the art of the Renaissance than any other
single work. To about this time may be attributed the
beginning of his poetic creations, of the multitude of which
undoubtedly written a few only have come down to us. In Nov.,
1505, he was called to Rome by Pope Julius II. to design his
mausoleum, the history of which runs through the entire life
of the master. Repeated designs and repeated attempts to
carry them out were made, only to be frustrated by the
successors of the great Pope. The matter finally ended in the
reign of Paul III. by the placing in San Pietro in Vincoli of
the statue of Moses surrounded by mediocre works finished by
Raffaello da Montelupo and others. The Two Captives of the
Louvre are part of the work as originally designed. In the
spring of 1506 he assisted in the discovery of the Laocoon in
the palace of Titus. His favorite antique was the Belvedere
Torso, supposed to be a copy of the Hercules Epitrapezius of
Lysippus. In April, 1506, probably as a result of the
intrigues of Bramante, he was forced to abandon Rome for
Florence. In the autumn he joined the Pope at Bologna, and
made (1506-07) the bronze statue of Julius which stood over
the door of San Petronio and was destroyed in 1511. The
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was begun early in 1508, and
finished in Oct., 1512. Julius II. died Feb. 21, 1513, and
was succeeded by Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, son of the
great Lorenzo, as Leo X, Michelangelo was diverted from the
tomb of Julius by Leo, and employed from 1517 to 1520 in an
abortive attempt to build the fa[,c]ade of San Lorenzo in
Florence, and in developing the quarries of Carrara and
Seravezza. In 1520 he began, by order of Cardinal Giulio de'
Medici, the sacristy of San Lorenzo and the tombs of Giuliano
and Lorenzo de' Medici with the famous reclining figures on
the sarcophagi, perhaps the most thoroughly characteristic of
all his works. Leo X. was succeeded by Adrian VI. in 1521,
and he in turn by Giulio de' Medici as Clement VII. in 1523.
On April 6, 1529, Michelangelo was appointed "governor and
procurator-general over the construction and fortification of
the city walls" in Florence. On Sept. 21, 1529, occurred his
unexplained flight to Venice. He returned Nov. 20 of the same
year, and was engaged in the defense of the city until its
capitulation, Aug. 12, 1530. Before the end of the year 1534
he left Florence, never to return. The statues of the
sacristy, including the Madonna and Child, were arranged
after his departure. Alessandro Farnese succeeded Clement
VII. as Paul III., Oct., 1534. The Last Judgment was begun
about Sept. 1, 1535, and finished before Christmas, 1541.
Michelangelo's friendship for Vittoria Colonna began about
1538. (See Colonna, Vittoria.) The frescos of the Pauline
Chapel were painted between 1542 and 1549. They represent the
conversion of St. Paul and the martyrdom of St. Peter. He
succeeded Antonio da Sangallo in 1546 in the offices which he
held, and became architect of St Peter's Jan. 1, 1547. From
this time until his death he worked on the church without
compensation. The dome alone was completed with any regard to
his plans.
[Century Dict. 1906]
|