Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni or more commonly known as Michelangelo Buonarroti, was born on March 6th, 1475. He died on February 18th, 1564. Michelangelo was born in the Tuscan town of Caprese, Italy. Today, it is called Caprese Michelangelo, due to its famous son. Michelangelo was known as a Renaissance Man because of his expertise in many areas. Although he defined himself as a sculptor, he was equally talented in painting and architecture. He was also a talented poet.

       Michelangelo is considered by many to be the greatest artist of all time. Let us look at some of his masterworks in this gallery.

Michelangelo was a born sculptor. Later in his life, he spoke of having been nursed by the wife of a sculptor, as having been responsible for his having sculpting in his blood. When we look at the above images from his youth, we see his Faun, his Madonna of the Stairs, and his Battle of the Centaurs. …

At the age of only 24, Michelangelo was commissioned to sculpt his first, of what would ultimately be 4 Pietas. Made from marble at Cararra, Italy, his Pieta shines like a jewel. He completed this statue to a refined finish, and because of it became a Florentine superstar. There is one story that showed he was not yet a superstar known throughout all of Italy. When a group of Lombards were viewing the statue, Michelangelo overheard one of them proudly stated, “This was done by our Gobbo of Milano.” In shock, Michelangelo vowed to correct that mistake. That night, when all was quiet, he returned to the church it was displayed in. Across the virgin’s sash, he sculpted the words, “Done by Michelangelo Buoarroti, Florentine.” Seeing that his youthful vanity defaced his gem of a sculpture, he never made that mistake again in his life.

There was a 17-foot block of marble that had been gouged in the side by an inferior sculptor. No one would use the block, due to its fragility from the damaged area. Michelangelo, the superstar of the city, knew he could meet the challenge. He was given the block of marble with the task of creating a statue representing the biblical king David, the slayer of the giant Goliath. Florence had recently been victorious in battles against some of their neighboring cities. What symbol for the city could be better than a statue of the victorious King David!

The 17-foot statue would be placed high atop the exterior of the grand Cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore. When you scroll through the images of David, I think you’ll agree that all of his refinements could never be appreciated from such a height. That, and the fact that raising a 12,000 pound statue was very risky, the local government began to consider a new location for the statue. After meeting with some of the greatest artists, and politicians of Florence, it was decided upon to place the statue in the Piazza Signoria, the seat of the local government It took 40 men, 4 days to roll the statue on logs from Michelangelo’s studio, to the Piazza.

Finally, in an effort to protect the statue from the weather and vandals, David was moved to its present day location of Galleria L’Accademmia.

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