Michelangelo

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Michelangelo What role did he play in society?
(1475-1564) Italian painter and sculptor, e.g.,
David, 1504 Sistine Chapel, 1508-1512.
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Early Life

• Born March 6, 1475 in Caprese, Italy.
• His father saw lucky stars in the sky and thought
  his son would have heavenly powers.
• Named Michelangelo - angelo in Italian means
  angel.
• Went to school to become a scholar - but was
  interested in sketching and painting.
• His father and uncles were angry - they thought
  art was a job for peasants.

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• They cruelly tried to change his mind.
• Finally at age 13, his father agreed to let him
  study with Domenico Ghirlandaio, a popular
  Florence painter.
• In Florence, M studied art of the old masters.
• He learned to paint frescoes (paintings done on
  wet plaster walls).
• Highly skilled egoistical.
• Hot tempered and outspoken.

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Life as an Artist

• Age 16 - sent to study sculpture under Bertoldo
  de Giovanni.
• M fell in love with the size and power of the
  Greek style of sculpture.
• Obsessed with creating the perfect human form in
  marble.
• Studied anatomy (he secretly cut up dead bodies
  to see how the body looked and moved).

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Pietà

• Pieta refers to a type of image in which Mary
  supports the dead Christ across her knees.
• Located in St. Peters Cathedral.

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David

• Warrior statue portrays the Biblical King David
  in the nude, at the moment that he decides to
  battle with Goliath.
• Made of marble - started in 1501 and completed in
  1504.
• Reflected the power and determination of
  Republican Florence.

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Design of Pope Julius II tomb

• At age 30, M was asked to design the Popes tomb.
• It took 40 years to construct the tomb.
• It was so large that a church had to be
  constructed around it - St. Peters Basilica.

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Sistine Chapel

• Started painting the ceiling of the chapel in
  1508 and finished in 1512.
• It measures 40 feet by 130 feet - 60 feet above
  the ground.

Exterior of Chapel
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Problems - How do you paint a ceiling 60 feet
high?

• A scaffold was built that was suspended from the
  ceiling from ropes.
• M saw it and thought it was bad - M knew that
  when the scaffolding was removed, it would leave
  holes in the ceiling and ruin the painting.
• M came up with solution flat wooden platform on
  brackets built out from the wall, high up near
  the top of the windows.
• A series of zigzag ladders allowing getting up
  and down from the platform.
• Lies on back and paints the ceiling.

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Modern Renovations of the Sistine Chapel - 1994
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Ready to paint?

• M sends for artists in Florence to assist him in
  this huge job.
• But he found their quality of work to be lacking
  and locked them out of the chapel and refused to
  let them back in.
• He continues work on ceiling allowing workers to
  carry materials and equipment up the ladders
  (lime, sand, and water for plaster trowels for
  applying it brushes, paint, and paint pots)

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Scenes from the Ceiling

• Ancestors from Jesus.
• Stories from Noah
• Creation and downfall of Adam and Eve.
• The Creation.

God creates Adam.
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Before and After the Restoration

• Controversy - cleaning too severe.
• Technique - was questionable.
• Started in 1984 - finished in 1994.

Before
After
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End of Life

• It was said that when M was 60, he could carve
  faster than three sculptors.
• Lived to be 89 - worked right up until his death
  in Rome.
• Died Feb 18, 1564 (weakened fever).

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Great Quotes from Michelangelo
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My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless
it be through Earth's loveliness.
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A man paints with his brains and not with his
hands.
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I saw the angel in the marble and carved until
I set him free.
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If people only knew how hard I work to gain my
mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all.
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• Genius is
• eternal patience.