The sublime Michelangelo Buonarroti, painter of the Sistine Chapel and sculptor of the David, was also a gifted writer of letters and sonnets. read more
For a deeper biography, I recommend “Michelangelo: The Artist, the Man and his Times” by William E. Wallace. This is a classic biography, deeply researched and covering every aspect of Michelangelo’s life. read more
Wallace's vivid biography reexamines the life of Michelangelo in the context of his family's origins, using the artist's own words and the words of his contemporaries to argue that it was his enduring ambition to improve the fortunes of his Florentine family and raise the social standing of artists. read more
Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, Tuscany. His family had for several generations been small-scale bankers in Florence but his father, Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti di Simoni, failed to maintain its status, holding to occasional government jobs. read more
There are quite a few ways of approaching Michelangelo through the studies and biographies published since the very first works done during his lifetime. read more
The sublime Michelangelo Buonarroti, painter of the Sistine Chapel and sculptor of the David, was also a gifted writer of letters and sonnets. He was the first artist to have not one, but two biographies written about him during his lifetime, one by the famous Giorgio Vasari and another by fellow painter Ascanio Condivi. read more
Michelangelo's father managed to persuade Ghirlandaio to pay the 14-year-old artist, which was highly unusual at the time. When in 1489 Florence's ruler Lorenzo de' Medici asked Ghirlandaio for his two best pupils, Ghirlandaio sent Michelangelo and Francesco Granacci. read more