Brooke Secreto

Language Arts 3&4

13 April 2016

Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni of the
Renaissance period was one of the most famous artists in history.
He was a sculptor, painter, poet, and architect who exerted an
unparalleled influence on the development of Western
art(wikipedia). He was born on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, Italy.
He had four brothers, a mother, and a father. His father was briefly
serving as a Florentine government agent, but when Michelangelo
was about 1 month old, they moved back to Caprese. His mother died when Michelangelo was
only 6 years old. Michelangelo knew from a very young age that he wanted to be an artist, but
his father considered this pursuit below the family's social status and tried to dishearten him.
But Michelangelo overcame and became an apprentice at the age of thirteen to Domenico
Ghirlandaio, who was the most fashionable painter in Florence at the time. After about a year,
Michelangelo's apprenticeship ended. The ruler of Florence, Lorenzo de' Medici, had given
Michelangelo access to the collection of ancient Roman sculptures he had. Michelangelo dined
with Lorenzos family and was looked after by the retired sculptor who was in charge of the
collection. This arrangement was quite unusual and rare at the time, so Michelangelo was very
lucky.

His most well known pieces are The David" and "Pieta" statues and the Sistine Chapel
ceiling he painted. The David and Pieta are so famous because of how realistic they are
painted. This was uncommon at that time. The Sistine Chapel became so famous because of the
precision and details he put into it. It did take over 4 years to complete after all! Those may have
been the more famous artworks, but he also created Brutus (marble sculpture), The Last
Judgment (painting), and Bacchus (marble sculpture). But it doesnt end there, he was also a
poet, and wrote over 300 poems that have survived to today. He wrote them from the 1530s to
the 1540s, and the earlier ones were mostly about Neoplatonic love (belief that the soul comes
from a single undivided source to which it can unite again) and have many logical rebuttals and
intricate images. The later poems are more regretful and sorrowful. They are also more religious
and written in a more simple and direct style.
If one chaste love, if one divine compassion,
If one destiny is equal for two lovers,
If one hard fate of the one is felt by the other,
If one spirit, if one will guides two hearts; (PoemHunter.com).
Overall, Michelangelo was one of the most valuable and important artists in the Renaissance
period, if not all time. He excelled in architecture, painting, sculpting, and poetry, and changed
the world as we know it.