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 Introduction:  Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), Caprese, Italy.  Also known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer.  Along with Leonardo da Vinci, he is often called a "Renaissance man" which means that he had great talent in many areas.

Michelangelo lived an extremely busy life, creating a great number of artworks. Some of Michelangelo's works are among the most famous that have ever been made. They include two very famous marble statues, the Pieta in Saint Peter's Basilica and David which once stood in a piazza in Florence but is now in the Accademia Gallery.  His most famous paintings are huge frescos, the Sistine Chapel Ceiling and the Last Judgement. His most famous work of architecture is the east end and dome of Saint Peter's Basilica.

History: His mother died when he was only 6 years old.  Michelangelo was less interested in schooling than watching the painters at nearby churches, and drawing what he saw there.  Michelangelo’s father realized early on that his son had no interest in the family financial business, so agreed to apprentice him, at the age of 13, to the fashionable Florentine painter’s workshop. There, Michelangelo was exposed to the technique of fresco.  He completed artworks for nine different Catholic Popes.

Working for the Medici

The richest, most powerful family in Florence were the Medici. They had an academy where some of the most famous philosophers, poets, and artists met to share their ideas.   In 1489, asked to send two best pupils to the academy. Michelangelo was one of the students chosen and he attended the academy from 1490 to 1492.  Michelangelo spent four years working on the dome of the Sistine Chapel. He stood on a scaffold and painted over his head, unlike the popular belief that he painted while laying down.

St Peter's Basilica Michelangelo spent most of his golden years overseeing construction on St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.  Even after he became too weak to go to the work site regularly, he still supervised the job from home by sending drawings and designs to trusted foremen. Sculpture remained Michelangelo’s true love, however, and he continued chiseling away in his home studio until the very end. Only days before he died at the age of 88, he was still working on the so-called “Rondanini Pieta,” which depicts Jesus in the Virgin Mary’s arms.  When Michelangelo died in Rome, his body was taken back to Florence and buried in the Basilica of Santa Croce (Church of the Holy Cross). On his tomb sit three mourning figures who symbolize Architecture, Painting and Sculpture.