Michelangelo Buonarroti

Caprese’s birthplace

On March 6, 1475, a child was born in the small town of Caprese. This child, named Michelangelo by Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, was destined to change the art world forever.

His father, Ludovico di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni, was a magistrate of the small town, a man of modest resources. His mother, Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena, was a woman of delicate health but immense character strength.

During her pregnancy, Francesca had an accident. It was a terrifying moment. Yet the child was born healthy; his parents named him Michelangelo, which means “like an angel.” 

From an early age, Michelangelo showed signs of the genius he would become.

The Death of the Mother

In 1476, the Buonarrotis decided to return to Florence. Still, little Michelangelo was entrusted to the care of a wet nurse in the nearby city of Settignano, famous for the quarries of the beautiful Pietra Serena.

The nurse’s husband was a stonemason, a man who shaped marble into different shapes. 

In an environment steeped in dust and art, it was here that Michelangelo had his first encounters with marble and master stonemasons.

Growing up in Settignano, his nurse’s family wasn’t just taking care of him—they were unknowingly introducing him to the world of sculpture. These early experiences would leave an indelible mark on him, laying the foundation for his future as one of history’s greatest sculptors.

However, just as Michelangelo began to connect with the world around him, tragedy struck. 

At the age of just six, he lost his mother. Although he did not spend much time with her, their bond was deep, and her sudden death left an unfillable void in the child’s heart, a pain that would accompany him throughout his life.

This profound loss, combined with his childhood difficulties, undoubtedly influenced Michelangelo’s character. He grew up introverted and often tormented, marked by constant melancholy.

However, Michelangelo found in art the power to express his pain, anger, and frustration. Sculpture and painting became his way of communicating with the world, transforming his inner turmoil into masterpieces that continue to resonate today.

A young Michelangelo in Ghirlandaio’s workshop

Forced by necessity, Ludovico, Michelangelo’s father, entrusted him to the care of Domenico Ghirlandaio, one of the most renowned Florentine artists of the time. Thus, on June 28, 1487, at just thirteen years old, Michelangelo Buonarroti crossed the threshold of the master’s workshop.

In Ghirlandaio’s workshop, Michelangelo immersed himself completely in learning artistic techniques. He drew tirelessly, studied anatomy on the corpses of the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital, and dedicated himself passionately to sculpture and painting. 

His innate talent soon emerged, arousing the admiration of Ghirlandaio and the other artists in the workshop.

Despite these successes, Michelangelo’s childhood was marked by a profound inadequacy. His once aristocratic family had fallen into disgrace, depriving him of the classical education reserved for the young people of the Florentine upper class. 

Throughout his life, Michelangelo tried to hide this shortcoming, inventing stories about a “Divine calling” to art to justify his irregular education.

The obsession with redeeming the Buonarroti name and affirming his artistic genius became the driving force of his existence. Michelangelo was not satisfied with being a simple craftsman; he aspired to achieve immortality through his works.

The period spent in Ghirlandaio’s workshop represented the first step on this ambitious journey. Among the smells of paint and the noise of chisels, Michelangelo laid the foundations to become one of the greatest artists of all time.

Michelangelo in the De’Medici Garden

Michelangelo was soon noticed by Lorenzo de’ Medici, one of the most influential patrons of the time. Lorenzo, struck by the young artist’s talent, invited him to live and work in his palace, introducing him to the prestigious Garden of San Marco. 

This garden was a place of natural beauty and a genuine artistic laboratory, where Michelangelo had access to the most refined sculptural techniques and the company of the best Florentine artists and intellectuals.

Soon, the young and talented Michelangelo came into conflict with Pietro Torrigiani, another ambitious sculptor who was a pupil of Bertoldo, the head and master of the Medici school founded by Lorenzo the Magnificent. However, in one of their most violent clashes, Michelangelo got the worst: Torrigiani hit him with a hard punch that ruined his face forever.

In the Garden of San Marco, Michelangelo sculpted his first masterpiece, the “Head of a Faun,” which already displayed an astonishing skill in handling marble.

But it was with the “Battle of the Centaurs,” a relief representing a mythological scene full of dynamism and tension, that Michelangelo fully expressed his creative potential.

Simultaneously, he worked on the “Madonna della Scala,” a relief that combined the grace of classical figures with a profoundly personal emotional intensity.

These works cemented his reputation as a young prodigy. They began a career that would change the art world forever.

You can already appreciate Michelangelo’s innovative technique, which pushes the chisel well beyond the surface of the marble. In contrast, other sculptors prefer to approach only with the rasp for fear of damaging the work. 

Conversely, Michelangelo dares to go deeper, risking compromising the entire sculpture with a too-decisive blow. This audacity, this ability to push the limits, makes his technique unique and distinguishes him from other artists of his time.

Michelangelo Buonarroti Escape from Florence

Michelangelo remained at the Magnificent Court until 1492, Lorenzo de’ Medici’s death. Soon after, Florence went through a period of significant political instability, aggravated by the rise of Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican friar who preached moral reform in the city and who, following the expulsion of the Medici, became a figure of growing influence.

Sensing the danger, the young Michelangelo decided to take refuge in Bologna, where he remained for the time necessary for the political turbulence in Florence to calm down. During his short stay in Bologna, he sculpted some works, including the “San Procolo” and “San Petronio,” demonstrating his extraordinary talent and ability to adapt to new artistic challenges.

Michelangelo Returns to Florence

In 1495, Michelangelo returned to a still unstable Florence, a city he no longer recognized as his, and felt lost. However, he did not let himself be discouraged and resumed sculpting, creating a “Sleeping Cupid” with such mastery that he managed to deceive Cardinal Giorgio Raffaele Riario, who purchased the work for 200 ducats, believing it to be an ancient Roman sculpture. 

When the cardinal discovered the truth, he was so impressed by Michelangelo’s talent that he invited him to Rome, thus opening a new phase in the artist’s career.

Rome, a lively center of art and culture, offered him the opportunity to show his extraordinary talent. His first major commission came from the powerful Cardinal Riario, who, impressed by Michelangelo’s previous work, commissioned him to create a statue of Bacchus. 

However, the work only partially satisfied the cardinal, who found it lower than his expectations.

Faced with the failure of this project, Michelangelo did not allow himself to be discouraged. He used this experience to refine his craft further, focusing on new artistic challenges.

The Rebirth of Michelangelo Buonarroti in Rome

Shortly after that, he was entrusted with creating the Pietà, a work that gained worldwide recognition, consolidating his status as an artistic genius and paving the way for future commissions of great prestige.

Michelangelo’s Pietà is one of the world’s most famous and admired sculptures, created between 1498 and 1499. It represents the Virgin Mary holding the lifeless body of Jesus Christ in her lap.

One of the most surprising features is the representation of Mary as a young woman, almost the same age as Jesus. This artistic choice underlines the human aspect of pain and the mother’s deep emotion in the face of her son’s death.

The figures are sculpted with ideal proportions, enhancing the beauty and perfection of the human body.

The faces of Mary and Jesus express deep and intense pain but, at the same time, an almost mystical serenity.

The work is made from a single block of white marble, crafted with a technical mastery that has aroused the admiration of generations of artists.