1. Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
Painter, sculptor, architect, poet—“Renaissance man” (uomo universale)
“Among all those artists, living and dead, he who wins the prize, transcending all others, is Michelangelo Buonarroti; he reigns supreme not only in one art, but in all three [i.e. painting, sculpture, and architecture]. He has triumphed not only over all those artists who have almost vanquished Nature herself, but without a shadow of a doubt he has surpassed the most celebrated ancients whose works are so praised.”—Giorgio Vasari (1550)
1475: Born in a village near Florence; nursed by a stone mason’s wife
: “Discovered” by Lorenzo de’ Medici; resides in Medici Palace
: Patronized by Pope Julius II in Rome (Sistine Chapel, etc.)
: Patronized by Popes Leo X and Clement VII (son and nephew of Lorenzo de’ Medici) in Rome and Florence

2. Michelangelo, David,

3. Donatello, 1420s-60s
Michelangelo,

4. Rear view showing strap of sling running down back

5. “Nowhere does God, in his Grace, reveal himself to me more clearly than in some sublime human form, which I love solely because it is a mirror image of Himself.”
—Excerpt from Michelangelo’s sonnet On Heaven-Born Beauty

6. Detail

7. David’s right hand

8. David’s head

9. (city hall of Florence)
19th-century copy of the David in its original location, guarding the entranceway to the Palazzo Vecchio
Palazzo Vecchio
(city hall of Florence)

10. Interior of Sistine Chapel filled with tourists
Sistine Chapel in Rome,
named after Pope Sixtus IV

11. Michelangelo painted the ceiling in the four year period 1508-12

12. Sistine Chapel during the
reign of Pope Sixtus IV
(modern reconstruction)
Note Perugino’s Delivery
of the Keys

14. The first three acts of Creation

15. Central section of the ceiling, showing
three scenes relating to Adam and Eve
Note one of the Prophets at the left and
one of the Sibyls at the right.

16. A clearer view

17. Three scenes from the story of Noah

18. Noah scenes rotated counter-clockwise
Note pairs of ignudi

19. Ignudo

20. David
Ignudo

21. Pair of ignudi

22. Later pair of ignudi

23. Early ignudo
Late ignudo

24. Early ignudo
Late ignudo

25. Fall of Man and Expulsion from the Garden of Eden

26. The Creation of Adam

27. The hands of Adam (left) and God (right)

28. So-called Awakening Prisoner
(unfinished statue planned for the Tomb of Pope Julius II, c. 1525)

29. David

30. Ignudo from Sistine Ceiling

31. The New Sacristy of San Lorenzo,
Plan of San Lorenzo, with New Sacristy at upper right
The New Sacristy of San Lorenzo,
better known as the Medici Chapel,

32. Tomb of Giuliano de’ Medici
Tomb of Lorenzo de’ Medici

33. Lorenzo
(“contemplative”)
Giuliano
(“active”)

34. Giuliano de’ Medici
Ignudo from Sistine Ceiling

35. Night Day

36. Night
Detail

37. Night
Detail: owl and wreath
with poppy capsules

38. Night
Detail: mask

39. Day
Ignudo from Sistine Ceiling

40. Day
Detail

41. Day
Detail

42. Twilight Dawn

43. Twilight Dawn