Michelangelo
1475-1564
The genius was born in Italy | Youth.
Years of study.
1488-1495 / Rome.
"Pieta".
1496-1501 / Florence.
"David".
1501-1505 / Rome.
Tomb of Pope Julius II.
1505-1545 / Rome.
Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel vault.
1508-1512 / Florence.
The Medici tombs.
1516-1534 / Rome.
Late works.
"The Last Judgment".
1534-1541 / Architecture.
The Cathedral of St. Peter.
1538-1564 | site map | home page
1.
The genius was born in Italy (1475-1488)
The struggle with the father's will
Michelangelo's creative path was difficult and full of truly titanic efforts.
Already in his early youth, he had to overcome his father's desire to teach his son in a Latin school.
It is not known what contribution Lodovico Buonarroti made to the upbringing of his son.
In the last years of his life, Michelangelo described his father as "an old fashioned and God fearing man." 1 He had a large family in his care, but he was "too proud to earn a living, too poor to live well"2.
Like many Italian fathers of that time, Michelangelo's father probably entrusts his son's initial education to other family members.
According to a contemporary, "he preferred to study grammar visiting churches, where he copied paintings."
Michelangelo was born with an exceptional talent, the time came when the future genius began to affect the child.
Michelangelo had to endure a difficult struggle with his father's will.
The son's persistent perseverance won the victory.
Michelangelo's father had big plans for the future for his son.
When it was time for the training, Lodovico Buonarroti took the boy from Bandinelli's workshop, where he was making great progress.
Despite his limited means, he sent Michelangelo to school in 1482, when the boy was only seven years old.
Michelangelo also had to learn to play the flute, the study lasted up to 15 years.
The flute became some kind of terrible ghost in his life.
The father wanted his son to become a lawyer, and sent the boy at the age of 10 to the Latin school of Francesco da Urbino in Florence; he had to learn to decline and conjugate Latin words from this first compiler of Latin grammar.
Of course, both the grammar and the school were caused by the need of the new time, they talked about" rebirth", about humanism.
Happy moments were brought to the boy by an accidental friendship with a beautiful and talented young man five years older than him.
This was Francesco Granacci, a student of the then famous master in Florence, Dominico Ghirlandaio, the author of many monumental murals and easel works.
With this young man, the workshops of both Domenico and other famous masters of that time became available to him.
In the first years at school, according to biographers, Michelangelo made progress.
He read well, wrote in a smooth, beautiful handwriting.
He became attached to versification early.
Even in adulthood, poetry played an important role in his life.
In the same years, Michelangelo's artistic talent awoke.
The father, noticing the boy's interest in drawing, was dissatisfied.
He made considerable efforts and all his parental authority to turn his son away from art.
Neither punishments, nor repeated beatings, nor threats could change the situation, Michelangelo continued to persist in his choice of life path.
In the future, studying at school was given to Michelangelo worse and worse.
The distressed father attributed this to laziness and negligence, not believing, of course, in the vocation of his son.
He had dreamed of a brilliant career for him, the scion of an old but impoverished noble family, when he gave him to Francesco, and he had the right to do so.
While the father was devising means to "correct" his son, fate and chance were doing their own thing.
To understand the meaning of the struggle and suffering of Michelangelo's father, and to excuse his perseverance, it should be noted that although some artists already enjoyed considerable fame and respect, but in general art was still considered a craft far from honorable.
Buonarroti considered his son's studies " unworthy of the ancient Buonarroti family."
The distressed Buonarroti Simoni have long lost their privileged position, but the old family pride remained, and the father tried to hammer it into the negligent son.
Contrary to his father's will, Michelangelo entered the studio of the famous historical painter Domenico Ghirlandaio at the age of 13.
Thus began his professional training and the path to a brilliant career.
1. Gilles Neret, Michelangelo.
1475-1564.
New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2001, p.
13.
2. Howard Hibbard, Michelangelo.
New York: Harper & Row Publishing, 1974, p. 16.
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