LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Michelangelo Buonarroti: Ceiling
built 630 days ago
Just a few years after Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) achieved tonal unity, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) tried a different approach. His colors are brilliant and contrasted, whereas da Vinci’s are subdued and unified. Michelangelo’s contours are crisp and set off against a contrasting background, whereas da Vinci’s blend and avoid silhouette.
Source:
The second of five brothers, Michelangelo was born at Caprese, in Tuscany, and worked mainly in Florence and Rome. As a painter, sculptor, poet, and architect, he was one of the giants of the Italian Renaissance. Information about him and images of his work are widely available.
Source:
Michelangelo devoted himself almost entirely to architecture and poetry after 1545. For Paul III he planned the rebuilding of the Capitol area, the Piazza del Campidoglio, a pioneering scheme of city planning that gave monumental articulation to an area traditionally used for civic ceremonies. The geometry is dynamic, marked by a trapezoidal plan (determined by the site) formed by three buildings and an oval pavement; the airy breadth of the piazza produces a relatively gentle effect of a special theatrical locus. The chief emphasis is on the facades of the two new side buildings, executed to Michelangelo's plans after his death. Two-story pilasters mark the front plane, unifying the open porch on the lower story and the closed upper one... mingling suggestions of compressed power and clear skeletal construction.
Source:
As the years rolled by, Michelangelo proved to be fitter and stronger than most men his age. However, his longevity was both a blessing and a curse. Although it afforded him the time to produce even more stunning artworks, he far outlived all of his friends and soon became an extremely lonely man. A further frustration was his slowing hand and failing eyesight, although onlookers claimed he could still chisel at twice the speed of a younger man even late into his eighties. By 1564, his age had caught up with him and in February of that year he died of a ‘slow fever’. Although his body was initially interred in Rome, his thoughtful nephew stole it days later and brought it back to Florence, the place Michelangelo always felt he belonged.
Source:
Michelangelo began to travel. He lived in Rome for 5 years from 1496 to 1501, where he carved a marble statue of Bacchus. Michelangelo ... carved a statue of Mary with the dead Jesus lying across her lap. This piece, the Pieta, was created at age 23. This statue is bigger than life size and is now being shown in St. Peter’s Church in Rome.
Source:
Michelangelo saw this appointment as one of servitude to God and faith. He refused forthwith any payment, although according to some sources resented his relative poverty. It is not quite clear whether this ambivalence signals resentment on Michelangelo’s part with regard to his personal role in life and with God. Amazingly, Michelangelo still had nearly two decades of life and output to complete. He became increasingly interested in writing his poetry – as he had done all his life. He ... formed a strong and late bond with a female companion, Vittoria Colonna.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Ceiling