Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564) was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art.  

Born and raised in Tuscany, Michelangelo Buonarotti has long been associated with the city of Florence, which holds a small trove of many of his masterpieces. Florence is where you will find the sculpture of David, which is one of the great icons of Renaissance art, as well as numerous sculptures, architectural projects, and a painting from the Italian artist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo 

Another resource: Artsy: Michelangelo Buonarroti
 

Works of Michelangelo 

Sistine Chapel, Vatican City 
Source: http://goitaly.about.com/od/vaticancity/a/sistine-chapel.htm


Sistine Chapel History The grand chapel that is known around the world as the Sistine Chapel was built from 1475-1481 at the behest of Pope Sixtus IV (the Latin name Sixtus, or Sisto (Italian), lending its name to "Sistine").
  • The monumental room measures 40.23 meters long by 13.40 meters wide (134 by 44 feet) and reaches 20.7 meters (about 67.9 feet) above the ground at its highest point. 
  • The floor is inlaid with polychrome marble and the room contains an altar, a small choristers' gallery, and a six-paneled marble screen that divides the room into areas for clergy and congregants. 
  • There are eight windows lining the upper reaches of the walls. 
Michelangelo's frescoes on the ceiling and the altar are the most famous paintings in the Sistine Chapel. Pope Julius II commissioned the master artist to paint these parts of the chapel in 1508, some 25 years after the walls had been painted by the likes of Sandro Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Pinturrichio, and others. 

Sistine Chapel Ceiling - The ceiling is divided into 9 central panels, which depict The Creation of the World, The Expulsion of Adam and Eve, and The Story of Noah. Perhaps the most famous of these nine panels are The Creation of Adam, which shows the figure of God touching the fingertip of Adam in order to bring him to life, and Fall from Grace and Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, which depicts Adam and Eve partaking of the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden, then leaving the Garden in shame. To the sides of the central panels and in the lunettes, Michelangelo painted grandiose images of the prophets and sibyls.

The Last Judgment Altar Fresco – Painted in 1535, this giant fresco above the Sistine Chapel altar depicts some gruesome scenes from The Last Judgment. The composition depicts hell as is described by the poet Dante in his Divine Comedy. At the center of the painting is a judgmental, vengeful Christ and he is surrounded on all sides by nude figures, including apostles and saints. The fresco is divided into the blessed souls, at left, and the damned, at right. Note the image of the flayed body of Saint Bartholomew, on which Michelangelo painted his own face.

The North Wall of the Sistine Chapel – The wall to the right of the altar contains scenes from the life of Christ. The panels and artists represented here are (from left to right, beginning from altar):
  • The Baptism of Jesus by Perugino 
  • The Temptation of Jesus by Botticelli 
  • The Calling of the First Disciples by Ghirlandaio 
  • The Sermon on the Mount by Rosselli
  • The Handing of the Keys to Saint Peter by Perugino (a very noteworthy work among the wall frescoes) 
  • The Last Supper by Rosselli
The South Wall of the Sistine Chapel – The south, or left, wall contains scenes from the life of Moses. The panels and artists represented on the south wall are (from right to left, starting from altar):
  • Moses' Journey Through Egypt by Perugino 
  • Scenes from the Life of Moses Before His Journey Through Egypt by Botticelli 
  • Crossing the Red Sea by Rosselli and d'Antonio 
  • The Ten Commandments by Rosselli 
  • The Punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram by Botticelli 
  • Moses' Final Acts and Death by Luca Signorelli


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Source: http://arthistory.about.com/od/famous_paintings/a/sischap_ceiling.htm

Why Did Michelangelo Paint These? 
Pope Julius II (also known as Giulio II and "Il papa terribile"), requested that Michelangelo paint the chapel ceiling. Julius was determined that Rome should be rebuilt to its former glory, and had embarked on a vigorous campaign to get the job done. That such splendor would (a) add luster to the name of Julius II and (b) serve to supercede anything that Pope Alexander VI (a Borgia, and Julius' rival) had accomplished, were not unimportant considerations.

How Big Is the Ceiling? 
It's about 40 meters (131 feet) long by 13 meters (43 feet) wide. These numbers are rounded off just a tad, but don't detract from the fact that Michelangelo painted well over 5,000 square feet of frescoes.

What Do the Frescoes Depict? 
A lot! The main panels down the center depict scenes from the Book of Genesis, from the Creation, to the Fall, to shortly after Noah's deluge. Adjacent to each of these scenes, on either side, are immense portraits of prophets and sibyls who foretold the coming of the Messiah. Along the bottoms of these run spandrels and lunettes containing the ancestors of Jesus and stories of tragedy in ancient Israel. Scattered throughout are smaller figures, cherubs and ignudi (nudes). All told there are more than 300 painted figures on the ceiling. By the way, have you noticed the wealth of architectural members and moldings which dissect the ceiling? Most of those are actually two-dimensional, skillfully painted in by Michelangelo to demarcate separate compositions.

Say, Wasn't Michelangelo a Sculptor? Why Was He Painting? 
Michelangelo was a sculptor. He referred to himself as such, and vastly preferred working with marble to almost anything else that life offered. Prior to the ceiling frescoes, the only painting he'd done was during his brief stint as a student in Ghirlandaio's workshop. Julius, however, was adamant that Michelangelo - and no other - should paint the chapel ceiling. What Julius wanted, he usually got. Besides that, he'd been stalling Michelangelo on a prior, wildly lucrative commission (sculpting 40 massive figures for his tomb), and kept dangling that juicy prize as a reward for completion of the ceiling job.

How Long Did it Take Michelangelo to Paint These? 
It took him a bit over four years, from July of 1508 to October of 1512. Michelangelo got off to a slow start, not having painted frescoes before. He intended to (and did) work in buon fresco, the most difficult method, and one which only true masters undertook. In addition to having to learn everything about the medium itself and making initial blunders in that area, he also had to learn some wickedly hard techniques in perspective. (Consider that his figures look "correct" on curved surfaces, viewed from nearly 60 feet below.) However, ultimately it wasn't Michelangelo's fault that the ceiling took four years. (Once he got the hang of things, he painted like a man on fire!) The work suffered numerous setbacks, such as mold and miserable, damp weather that disallowed plaster curing. A primary cause of downtime occurred when Julius was off waging a war, or ill to the point that Last Rites were administered. The ceiling project, and any hope Michelangelo had of being paid, were both frequently in jeopardy while Julius was absent or near death. Small wonder that the artist complained so often and bitterly about the project, really.

Did Michelangelo Really Paint Lying on His Back? 
No. Charlton Heston did in the movie, but the real Michelangelo didn't lay on his back to paint the ceiling. He conceived and had constructed a unique scaffolding system. It was sturdy enough to hold workers and materials, but began high up the walls of the chapel in order that Mass might still be celebrated below. The scaffolding curved at its top, mimicking the curvature of the ceiling's vault. Michelangelo often had to bend backwards and paint over his head - an awkward position which must've made his neck and back ache, his arms burn painfully and, according to him, permanently screwed up his vision. But he wasn't lying flat on his back.

Did He Actually Paint These Frescoes All by Himself? 
Michelangelo gets, and deserves, credit for the entire project. The complete design was his. The sketches and cartoons for the frescoes were all of his hand, and Michelangelo executed the vast bulk of the actual painting by himself. But! The vision of him toiling away, a solitary figure in a vacant chapel, isn't accurate. He needed many assistants, if only to mix his paints, scramble up and down ladders, and prepare the day's plaster (a nasty business). Occasionally, a talented assistant might be entrusted with a patch of sky, a bit of landscape, or a figure so small and minor it is barely discernable from below. All of these were worked from his cartoons, though. And clever, temperamental Michelangelo hired and fired these assistants on such a regular basis that none of them could claim credit for any part of the ceiling.