Michelangelo
The famous Artist
Biography
Michelangelo was born in a small village of Capreze near Arezzo, Republic of Florence(present day Tuscany, Italy) on March 6th 1475. His heritage was Italian and he reflected this in his artwork. He grew up in Capreze most of his childhood life and loved this small town. Although as he grew up he spent most of his adulthood in Rome.
When Michelangelo was 13 years old, his father sent him to a workshop of the painter Domenico Ghirlandelo. When he was 15 he studied at a sculpture school in the Medici gardens and shortly after, invited into the house of the Medici family.
When Michelangelo was 16 he started out his career by making sculptures. Over the years as he became older and better at his career, Michelangelo also became a poet, architect, and painter. Some of his pieces are Battle of the Centaurs, Madonna of the stairs and Bacchus. One of his most famous pieces was the gigantic, marble David.
When Michelangelo lived in Rome, he was employed by the popes. His father helped him get started in his art career by putting him in art schools. Also the Medici family helped Michelangelo to start his sculpting work.
THE WORK
MICHELANGELO'S DAVID. This is one of Michelangelo's most famous pieces of art. He created it between the years of 1501 and 1504 in Accademia, Florence. David became very famous and popular because in the 1500's an artist had never shown so much emotion or facial expression in a sculpture before. Michelangelo put details and emotion into David's face, something that had never been seen before. I find this piece from Michelangelo interesting because its amazing how it looks and resembles a real person. It looks like someone was just painted in grey, not like an actual sculpture. I also find it interesting because he didn't have the tools we have today, so it must've been really hard for him to add so much detail and make the sculpture look so realistic.
Michelangelo's David exemplifies humanism because the sculpture shows how Michelangelo focused on human qualities such as youth, beauty, muscularity, and alertness. He shows that a human is powerful. Michelangelo also demonstrates David's facial expression of looking off into the distance, sizing up for battle of the unknown enemy(Goliath).
MLA CITATIONS
Rome, Nick Squires in. "Michelangelo's David 'at risk of falling over' - Telegraph." Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/2990106/Michelangelos-David-at-risk-of-falling-over.html.
"Michelangelo. Art, life and biography.." MoodBook. Bring art to your desktop!. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. http://www.moodbook.com/history/renaissance/michelangelo-art-and-life.html.
"Michelangelo. Art, life and biography.." MoodBook. Bring art to your desktop!. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. <http://www.moodbook.com/history/renaissance/michelangelo-art-and-life.html>.