There is a saying that you can’t be a master at all things, but you can be a jack-of-all trades. But Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti was a master at all of them. Michelangelo is still considered the greatest living painter of his generation. His works still rank among the most important/influential in historical history. Michelangelo is an Italian Renaissance Age artist. He was born in Caprese Michelangelo. He brought realism to art, and challenged the traditional way of thinking by showing that painting the human body is not a sin. This encouraged new and innovative thinking in the area of art presentation. Michelangelo developed his artistic talents by being inspired by many artists. Lorenzeo Ghiberti was a Florentine artist in the Early 1500s. Ghiberti designed metal doors for Florence’s Cathedral that displayed scenes from the Old Testament. Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling was his first real masterpiece. He was awarded the commission by Pope Julius II to paint it. Michaelangelo could also be a painter or an architect. But it is his marble sculptures which make you want to learn more about how they came to be.
“Moses”, a marble sculpture, was the first to grab my attention. It caught my attention immediately. I was struck by its authenticity and the intricate details. The sculpture still stands amazingly today. This sculpture is different from the rest because it was created later in his career. The Moses is a more refined work than his earlier works. Although this doesn’t mean that it is superior to the other works, I can say that this Moses is more realist than his earlier work. The Moses was made between 1513-1515. He is almost eight feet tall seated. He is a muscular man with a fierce, intense gaze and enormous muscles.” Moses displays his courage and passion in a time of need to finish the tomb to Pope Julius II. Although he didn’t complete the Pope’s tomb in Rome, Moses shows us his genius at work. It was his most significant work. The Moses sculpture was Michaelangelo at his peak, at 38, being fully aware of his talents and abilities. The Pieta, however, caught my attention. The Pieta was the next sculpture that caught my attention as I looked at them. Beautiful was the only thing I could say. The creation of the Pieta took place between 1498 and 1500. Jean de Billheres, a cardinal, asked Michelangelo for a sculpture work to be placed in a side chapel of Old St. Peter’s Basilica. The Pieta, unlike any other work of his art, was created. The figures proportions were out of balance. The proportions of the heads were correct, but the body of the Virgin was larger than Christ. She was so big that if her legs were raised, she would be taller than her son. This was because the Virgin was able to support her son on his lap. Michelangelo was accused of depicting the Virgin in a way that was too crude at the end of the work. She appears rather young – so young, in fact, that she could scarcely be the mother of a thirty-three-year-old son. Michelangelo answered this criticism by saying that women who keep their beauty longer than other women do tend to age faster. You can find the Pieta at Vatican City.
Last, but not least, David, which is his last marble sculpture, is among his top ten. This extraordinary sculpture was built between 1501 & 1504. Michelangelo took on the challenge to sculpt large-scale David. He worked tirelessly for more than two years to create this amazing masterpiece of marble and art. It is a marble statue measuring 14.0 feet depicting David, the Biblical hero. The male nude stands in his place. Michelangelo, who was 26 in 1501, was already the most well-known artist of his day.
A second interpretation was that Michelangelo purposely over-proportioned and positioned the head to emphasize concentration. The right hand is thought to be symbolic of the contemplated action. Archive documents reveal that Michelangelo made the statue secretly, keeping it hidden until January 1504. His 14-foot tall David was unveiled to the Church in January 1504, as they all felt it was too perfect for the Cathedral. The imposing perfection of David’s biblical image made it the symbol for freedom and the republican ideals. It also showed Florence’s readiness of defense.
Michelangelo once said, “A true and pure sculpture should preserve so much of its original form from the stone block. It should avoid projections and separate parts that it would roll downhill under its own weight.”
