Editing Michelangelo (section)

==Life==

===Early life, 1475–1488===
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born on 6 March 1475{{efn|1=Michelangelo's father marks the date as 6 March 1474 in the Florentine manner ''ab Incarnatione''. However, in the Roman manner, ''ab Nativitate'', it is 1475.}} in [[Caprese Michelangelo|Caprese]], known today as Caprese Michelangelo, a small town situated in Valtiberina,<ref>[http://www.cm-valtiberina.toscana.it/ Unione Montana dei Comuni della Valtiberina Toscana], www.cm-valtiberina.toscana.it</ref> near [[Arezzo]], [[Tuscany]].<ref name="Tolnay11">J. de Tolnay, ''The Youth of Michelangelo'', p. 11</ref> For several generations, his family had been small-scale bankers in [[Florence]]; but the bank failed, and his father Ludovico briefly took a government post in Caprese.<ref name="Britannica"/> At the time of Michelangelo's birth, his father was the town's [[Magistrate|judicial administrator]] and ''[[podestà]]'' (local administrator) of [[Chiusi della Verna]]. Michelangelo's mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena.<ref name="clement5">C. Clément, ''Michelangelo'', p. 5</ref> The Buonarrotis claimed to descend from the Countess [[Matilde of Canossa|Matilde di Canossa]]—a claim that remains unproven, but which Michelangelo believed.<ref>A. Condivi, ''The Life of Michelangelo'', p. 5</ref>

Several months after Michelangelo's birth, the family returned to Florence, where he was raised. During his mother's later prolonged illness, and after her death in 1481 (when he was six years old), Michelangelo lived with a [[nanny]] and her husband, a stonecutter, in the town of [[Settignano]], where his father owned a marble quarry and a small farm.<ref name="clement5"/> There the young boy gained his love for marble. As his biographer [[Giorgio Vasari]] quotes him:
{{blockquote|If there is some good in me, it is because I was born in the subtle atmosphere of your country of Arezzo. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, with which I make my figures.<ref name="Tolnay11"/>}}

===Apprenticeships, 1488–1492===
[[File:Buonarotti-scala.jpg|thumb|upright|The ''[[Madonna of the Stairs]]'' (1490–1492), Michelangelo's earliest known work in marble]]
As a young boy, Michelangelo was sent to the city of Florence to study [[grammar]] under the [[Renaissance Humanism|Humanist]] Francesco da Urbino.<ref name="Tolnay11"/><ref name="Condivi9">A. Condivi, ''The Life of Michelangelo'', p. 9</ref>{{efn|1=Sources disagree as to how old Michelangelo was when he departed for school. De Tolnay writes that it was at ten years old while Sedgwick notes in her translation of Condivi that Michelangelo was seven.}} Michelangelo showed no interest in his schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches and seek the company of other painters.<ref name="Condivi9"/> Florence was at that time Italy's greatest centre of the arts and learning.<ref name=Coughlan14>Coughlan, Robert; (1978), ''The World of Michelangelo'', Time-Life; pp. 14–15</ref> Art was sponsored by the {{lang|it|Signoria|italic=no}} (the town council), the merchant guilds, and wealthy patrons such as the [[Medici]] and their banking associates.<ref name=Coughlan35>Coughlan, pp. 35–40</ref> The [[Renaissance]], a renewal of [[Classical antiquity|Classical]] scholarship and the arts, had its first flowering in Florence.<ref name=Coughlan14/> In the early 15th century, the architect [[Filippo Brunelleschi]], having studied the remains of Classical buildings in Rome, had created two churches, [[San Lorenzo, Florence|San Lorenzo's]] and [[Santo Spirito, Florence|Santo Spirito]], which embodied the Classical precepts.<ref>Giovanni Fanelli, (1980) ''Brunelleschi'', Becocci Firenze, pp. 3–10</ref> The sculptor [[Lorenzo Ghiberti]] had laboured for 50 years to create the north and east bronze doors of the [[Florence Baptistery|Baptistry]], which Michelangelo was to describe as "The Gates of Paradise".<ref>H. Gardner, p. 408</ref> The exterior niches of the Church of [[Orsanmichele]] contained a gallery of works by the most acclaimed sculptors of Florence: [[Donatello]], Ghiberti, [[Andrea del Verrocchio]], and [[Nanni di Banco]].<ref name=Coughlan35/> The interiors of the older churches were covered with frescos (mostly in Late Medieval, but also in the Early Renaissance style), begun by [[Giotto]] and continued by [[Masaccio]] in the [[Brancacci Chapel]], both of whose works Michelangelo studied and copied in drawings.<ref name=Coughlan28>Coughlan, pp. 28–32</ref>

During Michelangelo's childhood, a team of painters had been called from Florence to the Vatican to decorate the walls of the [[Sistine Chapel]]. Among them was [[Domenico Ghirlandaio]], a master in fresco painting, perspective, figure drawing and portraiture who had the largest workshop in Florence.<ref name=Coughlan35/> In 1488, at the age of 13, Michelangelo was apprenticed to Ghirlandaio.<ref name="Liebert59">R. Liebert, ''Michelangelo: A Psychoanalytic Study of his Life and Images'', p. 59</ref> The next year, his father persuaded Ghirlandaio to pay Michelangelo as an artist, which was rare for someone that young.<ref>C. Clément, ''Michelangelo'', p. 7</ref> When in 1489, [[Lorenzo de' Medici]], ''[[de facto]]'' ruler of Florence, asked Ghirlandaio for his two best pupils, Ghirlandaio sent Michelangelo and [[Francesco Granacci]].<ref>C. Clément, ''Michelangelo'', p. 9</ref>

From 1490 to 1492, Michelangelo attended the [[Platonic Academy (Florence)|Platonic Academy]], a Humanist academy founded by the Medicis. There, his work and outlook were influenced by many of the most prominent philosophers and writers of the day, including [[Marsilio Ficino]], [[Pico della Mirandola]] and [[Poliziano]].<ref name="Tolnay1819">J. de Tolnay, ''The Youth of Michelangelo'', pp. 18–19</ref> At this time, Michelangelo sculpted the reliefs ''[[Madonna of the Stairs]]'' and ''[[Battle of the Centaurs (Michelangelo)|Battle of the Centaurs]]'',<ref name=Coughlan28/> the latter based on a theme suggested by Poliziano and commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici.<ref name="Condivi15">A. Condivi, ''The Life of Michelangelo'', p. 15</ref> Michelangelo worked for a time with the sculptor [[Bertoldo di Giovanni]]. When he was 17, another pupil, [[Pietro Torrigiano]], struck him on the nose, causing the disfigurement that is conspicuous in the portraits of Michelangelo.<ref>Coughlan, p. 42</ref>

===Bologna, Florence, and Rome, 1492–1499===
Lorenzo de' Medici's death on 8 April 1492 changed Michelangelo's circumstances.<ref name="Tolnay2021">J. de Tolnay, ''The Youth of Michelangelo'', pp. 20–21</ref> He left the security of the Medici court and returned to his father's house. In the following months he carved a polychrome wooden ''[[Crucifix (Michelangelo)|Crucifix]]'' (1493), as a gift to the prior of the Florentine church of Santo Spirito, which had allowed him to do some [[anatomical]] studies of the corpses from the church's hospital.<ref name="Condivi17">A. Condivi, ''The Life of Michelangelo'', p. 17</ref> This was the first of several instances during his career that Michelangelo studied anatomy by dissecting cadavers.<ref>Laurenzo, Domenico (2012). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=u_U59cV_UCsC&pg=PA15 Art and Anatomy in Renaissance Italy: Images from a Scientific Revolution]''. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 15. {{ISBN|1588394565}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=A. |last1=Zeybek |last2=Özkan |first2=M. |title=Michelangelo and Anatomy |journal=Anatomy: International Journal of Experimental & Clinical Anatomy |volume=13 |issue=Supplement 2 |date=August 2019 |page=S199 }}</ref>

Between 1493 and 1494, Michelangelo bought a block of marble, and carved a larger-than-life statue of [[Hercules]].<ref name="Condivi15" />{{efn|1=The ''Hercules'' statue was sent to France and subsequently disappeared sometime in the 18th century.<ref name="Condivi15" /> After the [[Strozzi family]] acquired it, [[Filippo Strozzi the Younger|Filippo Strozzi]] sold it to [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] in 1529. In 1594, [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]] installed it in the Jardin d'Estange at [[Fontainebleau]] where it disappeared in 1713 when the Jardin d'Estange was destroyed.}} On 20 January 1494, after heavy snowfalls, Lorenzo's heir, [[Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici|Piero de Medici]], commissioned a statue made of snow, and Michelangelo again entered the court of the Medici.<ref>{{cite book|last=Coughlan|first=Robert|title=The World of Michelangelo: 1475–1564|url=https://archive.org/details/worldofmichaelan0000unse|url-access=limited|others=et al|publisher=Time-Life Books|year=1966|page=[https://archive.org/details/worldofmichaelan0000unse/page/67 67]}}</ref> In the same year, the Medici were expelled from Florence as the result of the rise of [[Savonarola]]. Michelangelo left the city before the end of the political upheaval, moving to [[Venice]] and then to [[Bologna]].<ref name="Tolnay2021" /> In Bologna, he was commissioned to carve several of the last small figures for the completion of the [[Arca di San Domenico|Shrine of St. Dominic]], in the church dedicated to that saint. At this time Michelangelo studied the robust reliefs carved by [[Jacopo della Quercia]] around the main portal of the [[San Petronio Basilica|Basilica of St Petronius]], including the panel of ''The Creation of Eve'', the composition of which was to reappear on the [[Sistine Chapel ceiling]].<ref>Bartz and König, p. 54</ref> Towards the end of 1495, the political situation in Florence was calmer; the city, previously under threat from the French, was no longer in danger as [[Charles VIII of France|Charles VIII]] had suffered defeats. Michelangelo returned to Florence but received no commissions from the new city government under Savonarola.<ref>Miles Unger, ''Michelangelo: a Life in Six Masterpieces'', ch. 1</ref> He returned to the employment of the Medici.<ref name="Tolnay2425">J. de Tolnay, ''The Youth of Michelangelo'', pp. 24–25</ref> During the half-year he spent in Florence, he worked on two small statues, a child ''St. John the Baptist'' and a sleeping ''[[Cupid (Michelangelo)|Cupid]]''. According to Condivi, [[Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici]], for whom Michelangelo had sculpted ''St. John the Baptist'', asked that Michelangelo "fix it so that it looked as if it had been buried" so he could "send it to Rome&nbsp;... pass [it off as] an ancient work and&nbsp;... sell it much better." Both Lorenzo and Michelangelo were unwittingly cheated out of the real value of the piece by a middleman. Cardinal [[Raffaele Riario]], to whom Lorenzo had sold it, discovered that it was a fraud, but was so impressed by the quality of the sculpture that he invited the artist to Rome.<ref name="Condivi1920">A. Condivi, ''The Life of Michelangelo'', pp. 19–20</ref>{{efn|1=Vasari makes no mention of this episode and [[Paolo Giovio]]'s ''Life of Michelangelo'' indicates that Michelangelo tried to pass the statue off as an antique himself.}} This apparent success in selling his sculpture abroad as well as the conservative Florentine situation may have encouraged Michelangelo to accept the prelate's invitation.<ref name="Tolnay2425" />

[[File:Michelangelo's Pieta 5450 cropncleaned edit.jpg|thumb|''[[Pietà (Michelangelo)|Pietà]]'', St Peter's Basilica (1498–1499)]]
Michelangelo arrived in Rome on 25 June 1496<ref name="Tolnay2628">J. de Tolnay, ''The Youth of Michelangelo'', pp. 26–28</ref> at the age of 21. On 4 July of the same year, he began work on a commission for Cardinal Riario, an over-life-size statue of the Roman wine god ''[[Bacchus (Michelangelo)|Bacchus]]''. Upon completion, the work was rejected by the cardinal, and subsequently entered the collection of the banker Jacopo Galli, for his garden.<ref>Erin Sutherland Minter, "Discarded deity: The rejection of Michelangelo's Bacchus and the artist's response", Renaissance Studies 28, no. 3 (2013)</ref><ref>Luba Freedman, "Michelangelo's Reflections on Bacchus", Artibus et Historiae 24, no. 47 (2003)</ref> In November 1497, the French ambassador to the Holy See, Cardinal [[Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas|Jean de Bilhères-Lagraulas]], commissioned him to carve a ''[[Pietà (Michelangelo)|Pietà]]'', a sculpture showing the [[St Mary|Virgin Mary]] grieving over the body of Jesus. The subject, which is not part of the Biblical narrative of the Crucifixion, was common in religious sculpture of medieval northern Europe and would have been very familiar to the Cardinal.<ref name=Hirst47/> The contract was agreed upon in August of the following year. Michelangelo was 24 at the time of its completion.<ref name=Hirst47>Hirst and Dunkerton pp. 47–55</ref> It was soon to be regarded as one of the world's great masterpieces of sculpture, "a revelation of all the potentialities and force of the art of sculpture". Contemporary opinion was summarised by Vasari: "It is certainly a miracle that a formless block of stone could ever have been reduced to a perfection that nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh."<ref>Vasari, ''Lives of the painters: Michelangelo''</ref> Michelangelo's only work known to have been signed, his name on Mary's sash, it is now located in [[St Peter's Basilica]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Majanlahti |first=Anthony |date=2023-03-30 |title=Michelangelo's Signature and the Myth of Genius |url=https://hyperallergic.com/781165/michelangelos-signature-and-the-myth-of-genius/ |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Florence, 1499–1505===
{{Main|David (Michelangelo)}}
[[File:'David' by Michelangelo Fir JBU005 denoised.jpg|thumb|left|''[[David (Michelangelo)|David]]'', completed by Michelangelo in 1504, is one of the most renowned works of the Renaissance.]]
Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1499. The [[Republic of Florence|Republic]] was changing after the fall of its leader, anti-Renaissance priest [[Girolamo Savonarola]], who was executed in 1498, and the rise of the ''gonfaloniere'' [[Piero Soderini]]. Michelangelo was asked by the consuls of the Guild of Wool to complete an unfinished project begun 40 years earlier by [[Agostino di Duccio]]: a colossal statue of [[Carrara marble]] portraying [[David]] as a symbol of Florentine freedom to be placed on the gable of [[Florence Cathedral]].<ref name=Paoletti387>Paoletti and Radke, pp. 387–89</ref> Michelangelo responded by completing his most famous work, the statue of ''[[David (Michelangelo)|David]]'', in 1504. The masterwork definitively established his prominence as a sculptor of extraordinary technical skill and strength of symbolic imagination. A team of consultants, including [[Botticelli]], [[Leonardo da Vinci]], [[Filippino Lippi]], [[Pietro Perugino]], [[Lorenzo di Credi]], [[Antonio da Sangallo the Elder|Antonio]] and [[Giuliano da Sangallo]], [[Andrea della Robbia]], [[Cosimo Rosselli]], [[Davide Ghirlandaio]], [[Piero di Cosimo]], [[Andrea Sansovino]] and Michelangelo's dear friend Granacci, was called together to decide upon its placement, ultimately the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the [[Palazzo Vecchio]]. It now stands in the [[Galleria dell'Accademia|Academia]], and in 1910 a marble replica was raised its place in the square.<ref name="Goldscheider1962">{{cite book |last1=Buonarroti |first1=Michelangelo |last2=Goldscheider |first2=Ludwig |title=Michelangelo: Paintings, Sculptures, Architecture |year=1962 |publisher=Phaidon Publishers |page=10 |url=https://archive.org/details/michaelangelo0000unse_h2o4/page/10/mode/2up?q=%22marble+replica%22}}</ref> In the same period of placing the ''David'', Michelangelo may have been involved in creating the sculptural profile on Palazzo Vecchio's façade known as the [[Importuno di Michelangelo]]. The hypothesis<ref name="Marinazzo 2020">{{Cite journal|last=Marinazzo|first=Adriano|date=2020|title=Una nuova possible attribuzione a Michelangelo. Il Volto Misterioso|url=https://www.academia.edu/44494234|journal=Art e Dossier|volume=379|pages=76–81}}</ref> of Michelangelo's possible involvement in the creation of the profile is based on the strong resemblance of the latter to a profile drawn by the artist, datable to the beginning of the 16th century, now preserved in the [[Louvre]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Avant Banksy et Invader, Michel-Ange pionnier du street art dans les rues de Florence|url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/avant-banksy-et-invader-michel-ange-pionnier-du-street-art-dans-les-rues-de-florence-20201122|access-date=11 April 2021|website=LeFigaro |date=22 November 2020|language=fr}}</ref>

With the completion of the ''David'' came another commission. In early 1504 Leonardo da Vinci had been commissioned to paint ''[[The Battle of Anghiari (painting)|The Battle of Anghiari]]'' in the council chamber of the Palazzo Vecchio, depicting the [[Battle of Anghiari|battle between Florence and Milan]] in 1440. Michelangelo was then commissioned to paint the ''[[Battle of Cascina (Michelangelo)|Battle of Cascina]]''. The two paintings are very different: Leonardo depicts soldiers fighting on horseback, while Michelangelo has soldiers being ambushed as they bathe in the river. Neither work was completed and both were lost forever when the chamber was refurbished. Both works were much admired, and copies remain of them, Leonardo's work having been copied by [[Rubens]] and Michelangelo's by [[Bastiano da Sangallo]].<ref>Paoletti and Radke, pp. 392–93</ref>

Also during this period, Michelangelo was commissioned by Angelo Doni to paint a "[[Holy Family]]" as a present for his wife, Maddalena Strozzi. It is known as the ''[[Doni Tondo|Doni Madonna]]'' and hangs in the Uffizi Gallery,<ref name="Goldscheider1962 11">{{cite book |last1=Buonarroti |first1=Michelangelo |last2=Goldscheider |first2=Ludwig |title=Michelangelo: Paintings, Sculptures, Architecture |year=1962 |publisher=Phaidon Publishers |page=11, plate 44 |url=https://archive.org/details/michaelangelo0000unse_h2o4/page/10/mode/2up?q=%27%27Angelo+Doni%27%27}}</ref> still in its original magnificent frame, which Michelangelo may have designed.<ref>Hirst and Dunkerton, p. 127</ref>  He also may have painted the Madonna and Child with [[John the Baptist]], known as the ''[[Manchester Madonna]]'' and now in the [[National Gallery]], London.<ref>Hirst and Dunkerton, pp. 83–105, 336–46</ref>

===Tomb of Julius II, 1505–1545===
{{Main|Tomb of Pope Julius II}}
[[File:Michelangelo Second design for wall tomb for Julius II.jpg|thumb|Michelangelo's second design for the monument of [[Pope Julius II]]]]
In 1505 Michelangelo was invited back to Rome by the newly elected [[Pope Julius II]] and commissioned to build the [[Tomb of Pope Julius II|Pope's tomb]],<ref name="Marinazzo-2022a">{{Cite book |last=Marinazzo |first=Adriano |url=https://www.academia.edu/95119245 |title=Michelangelo: l'architettura |publisher=Giunti |year=2022 |isbn=978-8809954533 |page=}}</ref> which was to include forty statues and be finished in five years.<ref name="Goldscheider1962 14">{{cite book |last1=Buonarroti |first1=Michelangelo |last2=Goldscheider |first2=Ludwig |title=Michelangelo: Paintings, Sculptures, Architecture |year=1962 |publisher=Phaidon Publishers |page=14 |url=https://archive.org/details/michaelangelo0000unse_h2o4/page/14/mode/2up}}</ref> Under the patronage of the pope, Michelangelo experienced constant interruptions to his work on the tomb in order to accomplish numerous other tasks.<ref name="Marinazzo2025"/>

The commission for the tomb forced the artist to leave Florence with his planned ''Battle of Cascina'' painting unfinished.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199532940.001.0001/acref-9780199532940|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-19-953294-0|editor-last=Chilvers|editor-first=Ian|edition=4th|location=Online|language=en|chapter=Michelangelo (Michelangelo Buonarroti)|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199532940.001.0001}}</ref><ref name="Campbell-2005">{{Cite book|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198601753.001.0001/acref-9780198601753|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-19-860175-3|editor-last=Campbell|editor-first=Gordon|edition=Online|language=en|chapter=Michelangelo Buonarroti or Michelagnolo Buonarroti|doi=10.1093/acref/9780198601753.001.0001}}</ref><ref name="Osborne-2003">{{Cite book|last1=Osborne|first1=Harold|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662037.001.0001/acref-9780198662037|title=The Oxford Companion to Western Art|last2=Brigstocke|first2=Hugh|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-19-866203-7|editor-last=Brigstocke|editor-first=Hugh|edition=Online|language=en|chapter=Michelangelo Buonarroti|doi=10.1093/acref/9780198662037.001.0001}}</ref> By this time, Michelangelo was established as an artist;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pater|first=Walter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OEVXiKyENo4C|title=The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry|publisher=Courier Corporation [2005, 2013 reprint]|year=2013|orig-year=First published 1893|isbn=978-0-486-14648-5|edition=4th|page=55|language=en}}</ref> both he and Julius II had hot tempers and soon argued.<ref name="Campbell-2005" /><ref name="Osborne-2003" /> On 17 April 1506, Michelangelo left Rome in secret for Florence, remaining there until the Florentine government pressed him to return to the pope.<ref name="Osborne-2003" />

Although Michelangelo worked on the tomb for 40 years, it was never finished to his satisfaction.<ref name="Goldscheider1962 14"/> It is located in the [[San Pietro in Vincoli|Church of San Pietro in Vincoli]] in Rome and is most famous for the central [[Moses (Michelangelo)|figure of Moses]], completed in 1516.<ref name="Bartz134" /> Of the other statues intended for the tomb, two, known as the ''[[Rebellious Slave]]'' and the ''[[Dying Slave]]'', are now in the [[Louvre Museum|Louvre]].<ref name="Goldscheider1962 14"/>

===Sistine Chapel ceiling, 1508 –1512===
{{Main|Sistine Chapel ceiling}}
[[File:Italy-3214 (5387296511).jpg|thumb|Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the [[Sistine Chapel]]; the work took approximately four years to complete (1508–1512).]]
During the same period, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel,<ref name="Marinazzo2025"/><ref name="Marinazzo2018">{{Cite journal|last=Marinazzo|first=Adriano|date=2018|title=La Tomba di Giulio II e l'architettura dipinta della volta della Sistina|url=https://www.academia.edu/38502373|journal=Art e Dossier|volume=357|pages=46–51|issn=0394-0179|via=}}</ref> which took approximately four years to complete (1508–1512).<ref name="Bartz134">Bartz and König, p. 134</ref> According to Condivi's account, [[Bramante]], who was working on the building of [[St. Peter's Basilica]], resented Michelangelo's commission for the pope's tomb and convinced the pope to commission him in a medium with which he was unfamiliar, in order that he might fail at the task.<ref>Coughlan, p. 112</ref> Michelangelo was originally commissioned to paint the [[Twelve Apostles]] on the triangular [[pendentive]]s that supported the ceiling, and to cover the central part of the ceiling with ornament.<ref name="Goldscheider1962 12">{{cite book |last1=Buonarroti |first1=Michelangelo |last2=Goldscheider |first2=Ludwig |title=Michelangelo: Paintings, Sculptures, Architecture |year=1962 |publisher=Phaidon Publishers |page=12 |url=https://archive.org/details/michaelangelo0000unse_h2o4/page/12/mode/2up}}</ref> Michelangelo persuaded Pope Julius II to give him a free hand and proposed a different and more complex scheme,<ref name="Campbell-2005" /><ref name="Osborne-2003" /> representing the [[Genesis creation story|Creation]], the [[Fall of Man]], the Promise of Salvation through the prophets, and the [[genealogy of Christ]]. The work is part of a larger scheme of decoration within the chapel that represents elements of the doctrine of the Catholic Church.<ref name="Goldscheider1962 13">{{cite book |last1=Buonarroti |first1=Michelangelo |last2=Goldscheider |first2=Ludwig |title=Michelangelo: Paintings, Sculptures, Architecture |year=1962 |publisher=Phaidon Publishers |page=13 |url=https://archive.org/details/michaelangelo0000unse_h2o4/page/12/mode/2up}}</ref>

The composition stretches over 500 square metres of ceiling<ref>Bartz and König, p. 43</ref> and contains over 300 figures.<ref name="Goldscheider1962 12"/> At its centre are nine episodes from the [[Book of Genesis]], divided into three groups: God's creation of the earth; God's creation of humankind and their fall from God's grace; and lastly, the state of humanity as represented by [[Noah]] and his family. On the pendentives supporting the ceiling are painted twelve men and women who prophesied the coming of Jesus, seven [[prophet]]s of Israel, and five [[Sibyl]]s, prophetic women of the Classical world.<ref name="Goldscheider1962 12"/> Among the most famous paintings on the ceiling are [[The Creation of Adam]],<ref name="Marinazzo-2022b">{{Cite journal |last=Marinazzo |first=Adriano |date=2022 |title=Michelangelo as the Creator. The self-portrait of the Buonarroti Archive, XIII, 111 r |url=https://www.academia.edu/102248857 |journal=Critica d'Arte |issue=13–14 |pages=99–107}}</ref> [[Adam and Eve]] in the [[Garden of Eden]], the [[Deluge myth|Deluge]], the Prophet [[Jeremiah]], and the [[Cumaean Sibyl]].

===Florence under Medici popes, 1513 – early 1534===
In 1513, Pope Julius II died and was succeeded by [[Pope Leo X]], the second son of Lorenzo de' Medici.<ref name=Bartz134/> From 1513 to 1516, Pope Leo was on good terms with Pope Julius's surviving relatives, so encouraged Michelangelo to continue work on Julius's tomb, but the families became enemies again in 1516 when Pope Leo tried to seize the [[Duchy of Urbino]] from Julius's nephew [[Francesco Maria I della Rovere]].<ref>Miles Unger, ''Michelangelo: a Life in Six Masterpieces'', ch. 5</ref> Pope Leo then had Michelangelo stop working on the tomb, and commissioned him to reconstruct the façade of the [[Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence|Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence]] and to adorn it with sculptures. He spent three years creating drawings and models for the façade, as well as attempting to open a new marble quarry at [[Pietrasanta]] specifically for the project. In 1520, the work was abruptly cancelled by his financially strapped patrons before any real progress had been made. The basilica lacks a façade to this day.<ref>Coughlan, pp. 135–36</ref>

In 1520, the Medici came back to Michelangelo with another grand proposal, this time for a family funerary chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo.<ref name=Bartz134/> For posterity, this project, occupying the artist for much of the 1520s and 1530s, was more fully realised. Michelangelo used his own discretion to create the composition of the [[Medici Chapel (Michelangelo)|Medici Chapel]], which houses the large tombs of two of the younger members of the Medici family, [[Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours|Giuliano, Duke of Nemours]], and Lorenzo, his nephew. It also serves to commemorate their more famous predecessors, [[Lorenzo the Magnificent]] and his brother Giuliano, who are buried nearby. The tombs display statues of the two Medici and allegorical figures representing ''[[Night (Michelangelo)|Night]]'' and ''[[Day (Michelangelo)|Day]]'', and ''[[Dusk (Michelangelo)|Dusk]]'' and ''[[Dawn (Michelangelo)|Dawn]]''. The chapel also contains Michelangelo's ''[[Medici Madonna]]''.<ref name="Goffen1999">{{cite journal|last=Goffen|first=Rona|title=Mary's Motherhood According to Leonardo and Michelangelo|journal=[[Artibus et Historiae]]|volume=20|number=40|year=1999|page=59|doi=10.2307/1483664|jstor=1483664}}</ref> In 1976, a concealed corridor was discovered with drawings on the walls that related to the chapel itself.<ref>Barenboim, Peter; Sergey Shiyan, [http://www.florentine-society.ru/Medici_Chapel_Mysteries.htm ''Michelangelo: Mysteries of Medici Chapel'', SLOVO, Moscow, 2006]. {{ISBN|5-85050-825-2}}.</ref><ref>Barenboim, Peter, "Michelangelo Drawings – Key to the Medici Chapel Interpretation", Moscow, Letny Sad, 2006, {{ISBN|5-98856-016-4}}.</ref>

Pope Leo X died in 1521 and was succeeded briefly by the austere [[Pope Adrian VI|Adrian VI]], and then by his cousin Giulio Medici as [[Pope Clement VII]].<ref>Coughlan, pp. 151–52.</ref> In 1524, Michelangelo received an architectural commission from the Medici pope for the [[Laurentian Library]] at San Lorenzo's Church.<ref name=Bartz134/> He designed both the interior of the library itself and its vestibule, a building utilising architectural forms with such dynamic effect that it is seen as the forerunner of [[Baroque architecture]]. It was left to assistants to interpret his plans and carry out construction. The library was not opened until 1571, and the vestibule remained incomplete until 1904.<ref>Bartz and König, p. 87.</ref>

In 1527, Florentine citizens, encouraged by the [[sack of Rome (1527)|sack of Rome]], threw out the Medici and restored the republic. A siege of the city ensued, and Michelangelo went to the aid of his beloved Florence by working on the city's fortifications from 1528 to 1529. The city fell in 1530, and the Medici were restored to power,<ref name=Bartz134/> with the young Alessandro Medici as the first Duke of Florence. Pope Clement, a Medici, sentenced Michelangelo to death. It is thought that Michelangelo hid for two months in a small chamber under the Medici chapels in the Basilica of San Lorenzo with light from just a tiny window, making many charcoal and chalk drawings which remained hidden until the room was rediscovered in 1975, and opened to small numbers of visitors in 2023. Michelangelo was eventually pardoned by the Medicis and the death sentence lifted, so that he could complete work on the Sistine Chapel and the Medici family tomb. He left Florence for Rome in 1534.<ref>{{cite news| last=Giuffrida | first=Angela | title=Michelangelo's secret sketches under church in Florence open to public |newspaper=The Guardian | date=31 October 2023 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/31/michelangelo-secret-sketches-under-church-in-florence-open-to-public}}</ref> Despite Michelangelo's support of the republic and resistance to the Medici rule, Pope Clement reinstated an allowance that he had previously granted the artist and made a new contract with him over the tomb of Pope Julius.<ref>Coughlan, pp. 159–61.</ref>

===Rome, 1534–1546===
[[File:Last Judgement by Michelangelo.jpg|thumb|''[[The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)|The Last Judgment]]'' (1534–1541)]]

In Rome, Michelangelo lived near the church of [[Santa Maria di Loreto (Rome)|Santa Maria di Loreto]]. It was at this time that he met the poet [[Vittoria Colonna]], marchioness of [[Pescara]], who was to become one of his closest friends until her death in 1547.<ref name="A. Condivi p. 103">A. Condivi (ed. Hellmut Wohl), ''The Life of Michelangelo'', p. 103, Phaidon, 1976.</ref>

Shortly before his death in 1534, Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint a fresco of ''[[The Last Judgment (Michelangelo)|The Last Judgment]]'' on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel. His successor, [[Pope Paul III]], was instrumental in seeing that Michelangelo began and completed the project, which he laboured on from 1534 to October 1541.<ref name=Bartz134/> The fresco depicts the Second Coming of Christ and his Judgement of the souls. Michelangelo ignored the usual artistic conventions in portraying Jesus, showing him as a massive, muscular figure, youthful, beardless and naked.<ref name=Bartz100/> He is surrounded by saints, among whom [[Saint Bartholomew]] holds a drooping flayed skin, bearing the likeness of Michelangelo. The dead rise from their graves, to be consigned either to Heaven or to Hell.<ref name=Bartz100>Bartz and König, pp. 100–02.</ref>

Once completed, the depiction of Christ and the Virgin Mary naked was considered sacrilegious, and [[Pope Paul IV|Cardinal Carafa]] and Monsignor Sernini ([[Mantua]]'s ambassador) campaigned to have the fresco removed or censored, but the Pope resisted. At the [[Council of Trent]], shortly before Michelangelo's death in 1564, it was decided to obscure the genitals and [[Daniele da Volterra]], an apprentice of Michelangelo, was commissioned to make the alterations.<ref>Bartz and König, pp. 102, 109.</ref> An uncensored copy of the original, by [[Marcello Venusti]], is in the [[Museo di Capodimonte|Capodimonte Museum]] of [[Naples]].<ref name="Goldscheider1962 20">{{cite book |last1=Buonarroti |first1=Michelangelo |last2=Goldscheider |first2=Ludwig |title=Michelangelo: Paintings, Sculptures, Architecture |year=1962 |publisher=Phaidon Publishers |page=20,  Appendix Plate XXX |url=https://archive.org/details/michaelangelo0000unse_h2o4/page/20/mode/2up}}</ref>

Michelangelo worked on a number of architectural projects at this time. They included a design for the [[Capitoline Hill]] with its trapezoid piazza displaying the ancient bronze statue of [[Marcus Aurelius]]. He designed the upper floor of the [[Palazzo Farnese]] and the interior of the Church of [[Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri|Santa Maria degli Angeli]], in which he transformed the vaulted interior of an Ancient Roman bathhouse. Other architectural works include [[San Giovanni dei Fiorentini]], the Sforza Chapel (Capella Sforza) in the [[Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore]] and the [[Porta Pia]].<ref name="Goldscheider1962 8">{{cite book |last1=Buonarroti |first1=Michelangelo |last2=Goldscheider |first2=Ludwig |title=Michelangelo: Paintings, Sculptures, Architecture |year=1962 |publisher=Phaidon Publishers |page=8 |url=https://archive.org/details/michaelangelo0000unse_h2o4/page/8/mode/2up}}</ref>

===St Peter's Basilica, 1546–1564===
{{Main|St Peter's Basilica#Architecture}}
[[File:Basilique Saint-Pierre Vatican dome.jpg|thumb|The dome of [[St Peter's Basilica]]]]

While still working on the ''Last Judgment'', Michelangelo received yet another commission for the Vatican. This was for the painting of two large frescos in the Cappella Paolina depicting significant events in the lives of the two most important saints of Rome, the ''[[The Conversion of Saul (Michelangelo)|Conversion of Saint Paul]]'' and the ''[[The Crucifixion of St. Peter (Michelangelo)|Crucifixion of Saint Peter]]''. Like the ''Last Judgment'', these two works are complex compositions containing a great number of figures.<ref>Bartz and Kŏnig, p. 16.</ref> They were completed in 1550. In the same year, Giorgio Vasari published his ''[[Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects|Vita]]'', including a biography of Michelangelo.<ref>Ilan Rachum, ''The Renaissance, an Illustrated Encyclopedia'', Octopus (1979) {{ISBN|0-7064-0857-8}}.</ref>

In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed architect of St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.<ref name=Bartz134/> The process of replacing the Constantinian basilica of the 4th century had been underway for fifty years and in 1506 foundations had been laid to the plans of Bramante. Successive architects had worked on it, but little progress had been made. Michelangelo was persuaded to take over the project. He returned to the concepts of Bramante, and developed his ideas for a centrally planned church, strengthening the structure both physically and visually.<ref>Gardner, pp. 480–81.</ref> The dome, not completed until after his death, has been called by [[Banister Fletcher]], "the greatest creation of the Renaissance".<ref>Banister Fletcher, 17th edn, p. 719.</ref>

As construction was progressing on St Peter's, there was concern that Michelangelo would die before the dome was finished. However, once building commenced on the lower part of the dome, the supporting ring, the completion of the design was inevitable.{{efn|1=On 7 December 2007, a red chalk sketch for the dome of St Peter's Basilica, possibly the last made by Michelangelo before his death, was discovered in the Vatican archives. It is extremely rare, since he destroyed his designs later in life. The sketch is a partial plan for one of the radial columns of the cupola drum of St Peter's.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7133116.stm |title=Michelangelo 'last sketch' found |work=BBC News |date=7 December 2007|access-date=9 February 2009}}</ref>
}}