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| Portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra |
Painter, on panel and in fresco, sculptor and architect, writer of sonnets, Michelangelo Buonarroti was the first artist recognised by contemporaries as a genius. Hero of the High Renaissance. He was the only artist of whom it was claimed in his lifetime that he surpassed Antiquity.
He was born in Caprese in the 1470s and trained first as a painter with Ghirlandaio, and then as a sculptor under the patronage of Lorenzo de’ Medici. In 1496, already known as sculptor, he went to Rome, where he carved the 'Pietà' for St Peter's.
Back in Florence in 1501 he began work on many sculptural and painterly projects most of which were left unfinished in 1505, when he was summoned to Rome to begin work on a sculpted tomb for Pope Julius II, a project that dogged him until 1545. From 1508 to 1512 he painted the vault of the Sistine Chapel with scenes from the Old Testament, from the Creation to the Story of Noah. Immediately celebrated, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, with its innumerable figures in complex, twisting poses and its exuberant use of colour, is the chief source of the Mannerist style.
The National Gallery, London
This is part 1 of a 4-part series on the works of Michelangelo:
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| 1487 The Torment of Saint Anthony tempera on panel 47 x 34.9 cm Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX |
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| c1490 Madonna of the Stairs marble 56.7 x 40.1 cm Casa Buonarroti, Florence |
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| 1490-92 Battle of the Centaurs marble 80.5 x 88 cm Casa Buonarroti, Florence |
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| c1494 The Virgin and Child with Saint John and Angels (The Manchester Madonna) tempera on wood 104.5 x 77 cm The National Gallery, London |
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| c1495-1500 A philosopher holding a round object (a skull?) black and red chalk, touched with pen and brown ink over stylus 33.1 x 21.4 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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| 1496-1503 Three Draped Figures with Clasped Hands pen and two shades of brown ink over traces of black chalk © Teylers Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands |
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| 1497 Bacchus with Pan marble 203 cm high Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence |
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| c1500 Satyr tied to a tree pen and brown ink on beige paper 37.8 x 20.9 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| c1500-1501 The Entombment (or Christ being carried to his Tomb) oil on wood panel 161.7 x 149.9 cm The National Gallery, London |
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| 1500-05 Study of a Mourning Woman pen and brown ink, heightened with white lead opaque watercolour 26 x 16.5 cm The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA |
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| 1501-03 Head and shoulders of a Satyr pen and brown and grey-brown ink 13 x 13 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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| 1501-05 Two studies of a standing man with one leg raised, and a battle-scene pen and brown ink, some black chalk 18.5 x 18.1 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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| c1502-03 Studies for the figure of David pen and brown ink 26.4 x 18.5 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1503-04 Two naked men carrying a third black stone, passed with a stylus 33.4 x 17.4 cm Louvre, Paris |
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| 1503-04 A nude young man pen and two shades of brown ink 37.4 x 22.8 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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| Battle of Cascina Holkham Hall, Norfolk, England |
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| A study of a seated nude man for the 'Battle of Cascina' red chalk 41.9 x 28.6 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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| Study for the 'Battle of Cascina' |
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| Study for the 'Battle of Cascina' |
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| Study for the 'Battle of Cascina' |
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| Study for the 'Battle of Cascina' |
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| Study for the 'Battle of Cascina' |
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| c1508 Study for the Decoration of the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel pen and brown ink, and charcoal on cream laid paper 37.3 x 25.2 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| c1508 Sudyfor the Decoration of the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel pen and brown ink and black chalk on cream laid paper 37.3 x 25.1 cm Detroit Institute of Arts, MI |
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| 1508-12 Study for the drapery of the Erythraean Sibyl grey-brown and black chalk over stylus (the sibyl) grey-brown chalk (the scheme) black chalk over stylus (the hand) 38.4 x 25.8 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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| 1510-11 Study for the Nude Youth over the Prophet Daniel red chalk over black chalk or charcoal on beige laid paper 34.3 x 24.3 cm The Cleveland Museum of Art, OH |
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| 1510-11 Figure Studies for the Sistine Chapel Ceiling red chalk heightened with traces of white on beige laid paper 23.4 x 33.5 cm The Cleveland Museum of Art, OH |
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| c1513 Rebellious Slave marble 229 cm high Musée du Louvre, Paris |
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| started 1513 Dying Slave marble © Musée du Louvre, Paris |
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| 1515-18 Details of classical architecture red chalk on paper 27.9 x 20.8 cm © The Trustees of the British Museum, London |
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