Michelangelo Buonarroti (b. 1475 Caprese, d. 1564)

Michelangelo's Painting

Michelangelo did not consider himself a painter, even though painting was the beginning of his artistic education painting and he continued to paint, on and off, for all his life. At age thirteen, Michelangelo entered his apprenticeship at the studio of the Ghirlandaio brothers and learned the basic techniques of painting techniques, imitating the ancient masters and painting from life. His first pictures was the Doni Tondo, dating from about 1503-1507. It depicts the Holy Family and is now displayed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. In this youthful work one can already see the characteristics of Michelangelo's works. The three bodies seem to be sculptured even in the artist's use of colour; an impression underlined by the absence of landscape.

In 1503, Michelangelo was requested by Piero Soderini, Gonfalonier of Florence, to paint a fresco of the Battle of Cascina in the Hall of the Great Council in Palazzo Vecchio; Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned to paint the Battle of Anghiari in the same room. This was Michelangelo's first fresco.

Michelangelo started painting again - after twenty-eight years - to depict the Last Judgement, commissioned by Pope Paul III for the same chapel.

In the 1536 the cultural climate of Rome was very different. A comparison between the two huge frescoes - painted by the same artist in the same place - shows how times had changed.The ideals of beauty and freedom, typical of the first phase of Humanism, had weakened. The Lansquenets had sacked Rome; religious struggles had become more and more violent.

The Last Judgement mirrors this difficult time as the Blessed and the Condemned circle a naked Christ, the Utmost Judge. The Pope had given Michelangelo detailed instructions with regard to the themes of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling; when commissioned to execute the Last Judgement, Michelangelo was already famous and had greater artistic freedom, which he used to express his own personal spiritual fears regarding death. Finished in 1541, the work made Michelangelo even more famous.

His last pictorial work consisted of the decoration of the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican, begun in 1542 and completed in 1550. It consists of two frescoes: the Conversion of Saul and the Crucifixion of St Peter.

The theme of the former comes from the Acts of the Apostles: Saul, a Jew and a Pharisee, but also a Roman citizen, persecuted the first Christians in Jerusalem. On his way to Damascus, he heard the voice of God and was granted a vision of Jesus. Converting to Christianity, he changed his name to Paul and became a tireless missionary.The second painting depicts an episode of Christian tradition: the crucifixion of St Peter, who asked to be nailed upside down, out of respect for his Master.

[ Michelangelo's Marble and Sculpture ]
[ Michelangelo's Life ]