 |
| Portrait of Michelangelo (after 1654) engraving 26.2 x 19.7 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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 2 of a 4-part series on the works of Michelangelo:
The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted between 1508 and 1512, is one of the most renowned artworks of the High Renaissance. Central to the ceiling decoration are nine scenes from the Book of Genesis of which “The Creation of Adam” is the best known, the hands of God and Adam being reproduced in countless imitations. The complex design includes several sets of individual figures, both clothed and nude, which allowed Michelangelo to fully demonstrate his skill in creating a huge variety of poses for the human figure, and have provided an enormously influential pattern book of models for other artists ever since.
 |
| The Sistine Chapel ceiling |
 |
| Sketch pen and ink and brown wash 26.4 x 36.8 cm The Royal Collection Trust, UK |
 |
| Sketch pen and ink and brown wash 26.4 x 36.8 cm The Royal Collection Trust, UK |
 |
| Section detail |
 |
| Section detail |
 |
| Section detail |
 |
| St. Bartholomew holding his skin |
 |
| Delphic Sibyl |
 |
| Libyan Sibyl |
 |
| Studies for the Libyan Sibyl pencil, writing ink and red chalk 28.8 x 19.4 cm |
 |
| Studies for the Libyan Sibyl red chalk, with small accents of white chalk on the left shoulder of the figure 28.9 x 21.4 cm |
 |
| The Creation of Adam |
 |
| The Deluge |
 |
| Heraclitus |
 |
| God separating the land from the waters |
 |
| The Creation of Adam sanguine on paper 21.6 x 29.5 cm Department of Graphic Arts, Louvre Museum, Paris |
 |
| The Creation of Adam |
 |
| The Creation of Adam |
 |
| Detail red chalk on with pen and brownish ink on off-white paper © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK |
 |
| Detail red chalk on with pen and brownish ink on off-white paper © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK |
 |
| Detail red chalk on with pen and brownish ink on off-white paper © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK |
 |
| Study for The Last Judgment black chalk on paper Louvre, Paris |
 |
| Study for The Last Judgment red chalk on paper 13.8 x 20.8 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| 1504-06 Striding Male Nude, and Anatomical Details black chalk with white heightening © Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
 |
| c1505 Two Nudes Fighting pen and brown ink on laid paper 7.9 x 4.1 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
 |
| 1505-06 Holy Family, known as the “Doni Tondo” tempera grassa on wood 120 cm diameter Uffizi Gallery, Florence |
 |
| 1508-09 Study for a young man's head, and for a hand black stone and white highlights on stylus tracing 30.8 x 20.6 cm Louvre, Paris |
 |
| n.d. Male Head in Profile; Studies of Legs and Feet red chalk on paper © Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
 |
| Male Head in Profile, Studies of Legs and Feet red chalk on paper © Teylers Museum, Haarlem |
 |
| Sketch for a Seated Figure soft black chalk, or less probably charcoal 28.9 x 21.4 cm |
