Michelangelo by Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, or simply Michelangelo, was born on March 6, 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, Republic of Florence (now Tuscany, Italy). He was born into a family with a history of nobility in their bloodline, although most of the family's status had faded by the time of his birth. His father, Ludovico di Leonardo di Buonarotto Simoni, held occasional government positions and, at the time of Michelangelo's birth, held the position of administrator of the small town of Caprese. Michelangelo's mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato of Siena. He didn't have much of an impact on his life, dying when he was just six years old. His father did not like the idea of ​​his son becoming an artist when Michelangelo expressed interest in art at a young age. His father believed that becoming an artist was a downward social step, and due to the time required to overcome this opposition, Michelangelo began his apprenticeship at the late age of thirteen. He became a pupil of the most famous Florentine painter of the time, Domenico Ghirlandaio. The apprenticeship was supposed to last three years, but Michelangelo completed it in just one year, both he and his master believing they had nothing else to learn. In 1489 Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence, asked for Ghirlandaio's two best students. Ghirlandaio sent him Michelangelo and Francesco Granacci. Rulers of this era, such as those of the Medici family, often wanted to surround themselves with poets, artists, and intellectuals to gain as diverse knowledge as possible. The group chosen by Lorenzo became known as the Medici circle. Michelangelo benefited greatly from his inclusion in this group. Not only did he attend the Humanist Academy founded by the Medici, but he also had the opportunity to study sculpture with Bertoldo di Giovanni. Florence itself was a fantastic place for Michelangelo. The city produced the best artists, both painters and sculptors, and was believed by many to be the premier artistic center (Gilbert, p. 1-2). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Florence's prosperity suffered a setback when the Medici lost power (the first of many times) and Michelangelo left soon after. Michelangelo's early life was what he attributed his love of art to. This love of art is what led him to become the Renaissance man he is remembered as today. For the rest of his life, Michelangelo traveled throughout Italy. His works can be seen throughout Europe, while their influence can be seen throughout the world. He died on February 18, 1564 in Rome, Papal States (now Rome, Italy) after completing hundreds of works during his 88 years of life (Gilbert, p. 1). Michelangelo was undoubtedly the most influential artist in Western art, with an influence on the world that can still be seen today through multiple elements of society. The Italian Renaissance occupies a very important place in the history of Europe. Michelangelo is considered by many to be the most important figure of this period. After the removal of the Medici from power in Florence, Piero Soderini, the city's newly elected Gonfaloniere, sought to follow the model established by the Medici with regards to spreading their governmental influence through images. Soderini wanted to use the city's art and artists as the primary medium of the new government's desired political messages. Important artists of the time, such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, were commissioned to realize Soderini's goals (Adams, p. 312). The most significant statue commissioned during this period of revival was the marble sculpture David.He was thought to be the powerful embodiment of the city and its protector from the previous tyrannical rule that the Medici had imposed on the people (Adams, p. 319). The creation of David is believed to be the true inauguration of the High Renaissance. Although most of the city's people looked to the statue as a sign of hope, there were still supporters of the recently removed Medici who openly despised the statue and what it represented. They believed the sculpture disrespected the Medici, who they believed were the rightful rulers of Florence. They even threw stones at those who transported the sculpture to its intended location, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio (Sayre, p. 488). Despite the controversy surrounding the work, David is still considered by many to be the Renaissance ideal of perfect humanity (Gilbert, p. 1). Michelangelo's work on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, one of his most beautiful works, is also one of his most important in terms of historical relevance. Over a period of four years, he painted nine distinct scenes: three depicting the creation of the world, three depicting the stories of Adam and Eve, and three depicting the stories of Noah (Gilbert, p. 3). His work in the chapel remains relevant even today. It remains the meeting place of the conclave of cardinals on the occasion of the election of the new popes (Sayre, p. 500). Many years later, he was again commissioned to work in the Sistine Chapel, but this time he had to work on the chapel's altar wall instead. On the wall he painted the Last Judgment, the image that depicted what Michelangelo believed was the final judgment of God. The work had much controversy, with many finding the work too violent to be displayed in any church, let alone one as important as the Sistine Chapel. An example of Michelangelo's added violence was his depiction of the martyr St. Bartholomew who, in real life, was flayed alive. In the painting the Saint has regained his skin and is now holding the old skin and the knife with which it was removed (Adams, p. 387). About twenty years after the painting was created, Paul IV was elected the first pope of the Counter-Reformation. He wanted the entire piece removed from the church, but shortly after Michelangelo's death, the pope had to settle for putting loincloths on all the nudes (Adams, p. 388). In all his works, Michelangelo was heavily involved in the history of the Italian Renaissance. He remained in the service of the papacy and the Medici family throughout his life, despite numerous occasions when he found himself at odds with them due to conflicting opinions. He played a vital role in the revolt of the cities of Florence and Rome during this time period. His works and efforts contributed greatly, attracting more artists and intellectuals to these gathering places, allowing even more ideas to spread. From things like these we see that the most important effect Michelangelo had on the world was through his involvement in enriching its history. The philosophy of the Italian Renaissance was influenced by Michelangelo through his effects on the philosophers of the time. Early in his life, when Michelangelo was part of the Medici circle, he adopted the ideas of Neoplatonism from the philosophers who were part of the circle. Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola are believed to have been the two philosophers who had the strongest effect on the early construction of his philosophical views (Adams, p. 313). Neoplatonism is a philosophical vision that attributes much importance to religion and the natural human instinct to aspire to salvation. In Michelangelo's works he also conveyed humanist philosophy with his mastery of the human figure (Adams, p. 314). The assimilation of the Neoplatonism of his time with theMichelangelo's circle of Medici can be seen with the work Madonna Taddei. He has many symbols that allude to Christ's earthly mission in the piece of marble, all following the Neoplatonic vision he had developed in his early life (Adams, p. 317). The Doni Madonna is also a work with strong links to Neoplatonism. The painting contrasted paganism and ChristianityChrist and Mary contrast in the background with the nudes and John the Baptist (Adams, p. 320). Michelangelo's greatest work that conveyed his Neoplatonic vision was the tomb of Pope Julius II. The tomb is a wall made up of multiple statues. The statues are thought to reflect the Neoplatonic view of earthly life. Statues specifically depicting Moses and St. Paul are believed to be contrasting Neoplatonic personifications of the active and contemplative life (Adams, p. 335). Michelangelo's work on the Sistine Chapel ceiling and its unusual iconography has been explained by many scholars as a Neoplatonic interpretation of the Bible, "representing the essential stages of humanity's spiritual development seen through a very dramatic relationship between man and God" (Gilbert, p. 3). Michelangelo also showed his philosophical views in the few poetic pieces he put together. His Neoplatonic views were represented in his literature, giving expression to the theme that love helps human beings in their difficult effort to ascend to the divine (Gilbert, p. 6). Through his works, Michelangelo was able to portray and disseminate philosophical ideas, especially Neoplatonism. By reflecting Neoplatonic views in his art, he opened more eyes to this philosophy and aided in the interpretation of this philosophy. Michelangelo also influenced how the stories of the Bible were perceived, as most of his works were related to the Church in one way or another. The effect that the David sculpture had on the perception of David's actual character was positive. The sculpture was held in such high regard in Florence that people began to see David in a much higher light than before, elevating his status as a hero to incredible heights (Sayre, p. 488). With the Moses sculpture, Michelangelo does not follow the exact image portrayed by the biblical texts. While in the Bible, Moses “threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them under the mountain” (Exodus 23:9), the Moses depicted by Michelangelo was much calmer and controlled his anger (Adams, p. 336). . All of Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel had a profound effect on the common man's view of the various Bible scenes he painted. The Creation of Adam and other works portraying the creation of the world are often used as images for those studying the teleology and events of Genesis (Gilbert, p. 3). Michelangelo acted as an aid to the Catholic Church and the papacy by adding beauty to their messages regarding the Bible, but Michelangelo did even more, increasing understanding of the Bible by illustrating his views so elegantly. The most important The influence Michelangelo had on the world was about art. Michelangelo's career spans two distinct artistic periods. He began his work at the beginning of the High Renaissance, and some of his later pieces helped usher in the Mannerist period of art. His early sculptures, such as those used for the tomb and sanctuary of San Domenico, were very serious in nature. He used a compact form that followed the Florentine artistic tradition. His seriousness was also seen in the tools he worked with, using marble to simplify things. In the past, artists tried to reproduce the structure and details of the human body as closely as possible, while Michelangelo's work contrasted with this (Gilbert, p. 2). ANDHe was also one of the first artists to create artworks focused not primarily on the front. Bacchus is the first example of such a piece, having been created to be placed in the center of a garden (Gilbert, p. 1). The mural tomb of Pope Julius II was also a masterful display of Michelangelo's work that brought with it new themes to add to the ideas underlying the Renaissance. The tomb was made up of separate sculptures that all stood out significantly compared to other sculptures of the time. Everyone expressed strong emotion in the complexity of their positions. The difficulty of sculpting such complex positions meant that the beauty of the pieces could only be achieved by a master sculptor like Michelangelo (Gilbert, p. 4). Although he was a much better sculptor than a painter, Michelangelo popularized the cross-hatching technique for studying the male nude when drawing in two dimensions. The technique could be used to provide a perfectly precise reproduction of the complex surface of a well-constructed muscular form (Ames-Lewis, p. 19). Michelangelo also adapted his studies to begin using plaster when studying the shapes and contours of the body, something he and fellow Renaissance artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino discovered around the same time (Ames-Lewis, p. 25). His first work to be recognized as Mannerist was his Victory, which used a series of dynamic and asymmetrical spatial turns that suited the theme of the period (Adams, p. 384). Victory so closely resembled the Mannerist vision that it was most commonly used by young sculptors of the time as a model for allegorical subjects they wanted to sculpt (Gilbert, p. 6). His ventures in architecture also followed Mannerist ideals. Giulio de' Medici, who became Pope Clement VII, asked Michelangelo to design a library to house the collection of Medici manuscripts. Michelangelo then created the Vestibule of the Laurentian Library, the place where most scholars would say Mannerism was first seen in architectural design. The work is thought to intentionally contradict the classical and harmonious, instead focusing on expressiveness and originality, emphasizing style factors only for the style aspect (Gilbert, p. 5). The staircase in the vestibule was different from all the others before it. This is evidence that Michelangelo began to open his imagination to a more mannerist vision beyond the humanistic vision of the rational world that he followed early in his life. Michelangelo described the project as “a certain scale that comes back to me as in a dream” (Sayre, p. 510). Many believe that the architecture was also used as inspiration for the artistic period following Mannerism, the Baroque period (Adams, p. 388). This is yet another example of Michelangelo's lasting impression on the arts. After his work on the library, he worked on the architecture of the Campidoglio (the Campidoglio) in the heart of modern Rome. Although he died before completion, his plans for the ensemble were followed with great accuracy. These two pieces of architecture are believed to be crucial to the beginning of Mannerism. Michelangelo's impact was the use of powerful and innovative combinations of form on classical Renaissance precedents (Adams, p. 391). Michelangelo's last major work was the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. The architecture behind the dome is still used today, with the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. deriving its shape from Michelangelo's original piece (Gilbert, p. 7). All of these are examples of how Michelangelo has influenced art around the world and throughout history. Michelangelo's influence on the sciences is present in a multitude ofdifferent areas. He was very inventive in finding ways he could paint. While working on the Sistine Chapel, he built his own scaffolding to better support him while he worked on the ceiling designs. The gallows had the ability to carry him from the entrance to the top of the chapel, where he spent four years of his life working. The idea behind the engineering was used as an example for many other scaffolds created later (Adams, p. 338). The Medici conquered and lost control of Florence several times, and Michelangelo often came to the city's aid, having spent much of his life there. Once in particular he agreed to direct the design of the fortifications of the city's outer walls. He showed great knowledge of how modern defensive structures were built, using simple materials in complex profiles. Its fortifications offered minimal vulnerability to attackers and maximum defense against recently introduced cannons and other artillery. Michelangelo used much shorter walls than those used during medieval battles due to the cannons and their power. His sketches of the battlements are still visible today due to the purity of their forms (Gilbert, p. 5). Michelangelo's strongest influence in the sciences was through his studies of anatomy. He acquired his knowledge of anatomy through the dissection of animal and human cadavers. He conducted these studies to better understand the human body and form to make his sculptures and paintings even more lifelike. He has numerous sketches, called ecorché drawings. The sketches illustrated the muscle beneath the skin and often included his descriptions of how the muscles, bones, and cartilage all functioned together as one unit. Many scholars have assumed that the paintings were made specifically to be studied by others, as many of the drawings were accompanied by strange notes and labels (Barkan, p. 18-25). Although his studies of anatomy were not as extensive as Leonardo's, Michelangelo's studies approached the body from a different perspective. He tried to focus more on the collective work needed to make certain parts of the body work by using the different components together (bones, muscles, cartilage), while da Vinci only studied the parts separately (Barkan, p. 28). area in which Michelangelo had the least significant influence, simply because he never had too strong an interest in writing. His first literary works were the numerous letters he wrote later in his life. He wrote them to young people when he was about sixty. Many scholars use these letters as evidence behind the thought that Michelangelo was homosexual because the letters showed strong feelings of attachment to the young people he addressed. Many other scholars dismiss this thought, and instead point to the fact that Michelangelo at the time feared that no one would carry on the family surname after the deaths of his father and brother a few years earlier, and the letters were to try to find a man . good enough to be brought in as a surrogate son so that Michelangelo could continue his family name. The few poems written by Michelangelo are considered unprofessional. Some of them followed the format of Petrarch's love poems, but none deserve special attention (Gilbert, p. 6). He resumed poetry in his later years, although his poems were very different from before. They were all direct religious statements, similar to prayers (Gilbert, p. 7). Michelangelo had a stronger influence on literature through his art than through his writings, with his artwork inspiring many writers. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychiatry, made an in-depth study and a.