Biography of Michelangelo Buonarroti, Portrait of Michelangelo. Abstracts, paintings and sculptures of Michelangelo, creativity
The meaning of MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI
(Michelangelo Buonarroti) ? one of greatest artists of all times, a brilliant sculptor, painter and architect, a skilled engineer and a talented poet; genus. March 6, 1475 (according to the ancient Florentine reckoning? 1474), in the mountainous Tuscan town of Caprese, where his father, a scion of an ancient Florentine noble family, held the position of podestà (city manager and judge), and from where, shortly after the birth of his son, he moved back to Florence. Here M. first studied at primary school, and then, in 1488, he entered the workshop of the famous historical painter Domenico Ghirlandaio and, having received permission to study the monuments of ancient sculpture collected in the Medici Garden on St. Mark, became addicted to sculpture and from 1489 began to study it under the guidance of Bertoldo, one of Donatello’s students. The boy’s extraordinary talent attracted the attention of Lorenzo Medici, who accepted him into his home, allowed him to be raised with his own sons, and generally contributed to his further development by all means. In the luxurious chambers of the Medici, in the atmosphere of the newly discovered Platonic Academy, in communication with people such as Angelo Poliziano and Pico Mirandolsky, the boy turned into a young man, matured in intelligence and talent. His first sculptural works, based on the study of nature, but executed in a completely antique spirit, imbued with classical beauty and nobility, date back to this time: the head of a laughing Faun (located in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence), the bas-relief “The Battle of Hercules with the Centaurs” (in the house Buonarroti, ibid.) and “Madonna Breastfeeding the Child” (ibid.). After the death of Lorenzo, M. went to Bologna, where he performed for the shrine of St. Dominic, in the church there named after him, is the most beautiful of his works? marble angel holding a candelabra, and for the church of St. Petronius statue of this saint. Then, returning to Florence in 1494, he produced a statue of St. John and the Sleeping Cupid, of which the second was sold in Rome to Cardinal Riapio for antiquity and gave this art lover a reason to invite young sculptor to the eternal city. Arriving here in 1496, M. sculpted a statue of an intoxicated Bacchus (in the Palazzo Borgello, in Florence) and an incomparable group of the Mother of God mourning over the body of the Savior taken down from the cross (in Peter's Cathedral, in Rome).
In 1501 the artist returned to Florence. From this time on, the second period of his activity begins, in which he gives full rein to his naturalistic aspirations, but does not consider it necessary to reproduce nature with accuracy and boldly exaggerates its forms for best transmission characters and to express their ideas. The first of his works dating from this period was a colossal marble statue of David (now in the Florentine Academy of Fine Arts). She was followed by a statue of the Apostle Matthew, carved for the Florence Cathedral, a group of the Madonna and Child (in the Cathedral of Bruges), two medallions also depicting the Virgin Mary, the now lost cardboard “Attack of the Pisan warriors on the bathing Florentines,” which for a long time served as a school for artists to draw the human body, and the painting "Holy Family", known as "Madonna Doni" (in the Uffizi Gallery). In 1503, M. came to Rome, invited there by Julius II to build a tombstone, which he planned to make for himself during his lifetime. The grandiose project of this monument, composed by the great sculptor, due to its boldness and complexity, was carried out far from being in the form expected: working on it for many years, but with interruptions, M. made for it only figures of two bound captives (now in the Louvre Museum , in Paris), a crouching youth (in the Imperial Hermitage, in St. Petersburg), statues of Leah and Rachel and the famous colossal statue of Moses; only the last three works were included in the relatively modest mausoleum, which was later erected (in 1545) for Julius II not in the Roman Cathedral of St. Peter, as was supposed, but in the church of S. Pietro in Vincoli, and in which other parts are the work of other artists. This stay of M. in Rome includes the excellent unfinished statue of Apollo (in the Uffizi Gallery) and the “Risen Christ”, more similar to an ancient hero than to the Savior. In 1505, offended by the pope’s lack of attention to him, M. hastily retired to Florence, but soon met him again in Bologna, where he made a colossal bronze statue of him for the local church of St. Petronia, who later died during one of the local popular unrest.
In 1508, we find the artist again in Rome, where Julius II summoned him not so much to continue work on the tombstone, but to fulfill a new order? decorate fresco painting ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace. At first M. tried to reject this order, which interrupted the work in question and, perhaps, seemed beyond his strength, but in the end he had to submit to the persistent will of the pope and take up the work proposed to him. Having made cardboards for painting the ceiling, he intended to entrust its very production to others and for this purpose called several of his former comrades and friends from Florence, but soon, considering their cooperation useless, he sent them back and set to work alone, without any outside help. Having devoted himself undividedly to the enterprise, for twenty months of 1511–12. covered the huge ceiling vault of the chapel with images of the creation of the world and man, the Fall, episodes of the initial history of mankind and its redemption, the prophets and sibyls who foreshadowed it, located in an architectonic frame and among the figures of young men and children, as if carved from stone. The collection of these images, each of which is full of high artistic merit, forms an extremely beautiful and majestic whole and can be considered the most remarkable of all fresco works ever executed, and at the same time the most perfect among M.’s creations: was his powerful genius expressed here in all its fullness? in brilliance and purity, undisturbed by arbitrariness and extremes, into which this master was often carried away by his colossal talent.
A few months after completing the painting of the Sistine Chapel, Julius II died. His successor, Leo X, entrusted M. with the construction of the facade of the Church of St. Lawrence in Florence, where the brilliant artist moved. He spent a lot of work and precious time on this task, but it did not go beyond making a model of the facade and procuring materials for its construction. Then M. continued his studies on the mausoleum of Julius II, from which Pope Clement VII soon distracted him with an order to build a library, a sacristy and a Medici family tomb at the mentioned church. The expulsion of the Medici from Florence (1527) stopped these works: a patriot and republican at heart, M. joined popular movement, was appointed chief inspector of the fortifications of San Miniato, Pisa, Livorno and Ferrara, and although, having left his post without permission, he left for Venice with the intention of retiring to France, he returned to his hometown and provided him with important services during its siege by imperial troops. The fall of Florence threatened the artist with mortal danger, from which he was saved only by general respect for his talent and the pope’s desire to complete the construction of the Medici tomb.
The events he experienced produced a deep moral shock in M. and strained his health: and before that, stern and unsociable, he now became even more gloomy and unsociable, completely immersed in the world of his ideas; There was also a noticeable change in the nature of his work: the freedom with which he treated nature already in the second period of his activity reaches in the third and final period that, in order to say what he wants, he rapes nature, as if deliberately avoiding visible beauty , does not care whether the figure is natural, whether its pose and movement are truthful, as long as it strongly expresses one or another idea, and in the end reaches forms that are repulsive in their coarseness, but nevertheless in highest degree expressive. The transition from the second to the third period of his work is represented by sculptures of two tombstones in the tomb of the Medici family, namely two statues of Giuliano and Lorenzo Medici sitting in niches, known under the names Taciturno and Pensieroso, and four allegorical figures lying on sarcophagi under these statues and personifying day and night (on the sarcophagus of Giuliano), morning and evening ( on Lorenzo's sarcophagus) ? works, of which “Night” is especially famous and which are rightly considered the best plastic creations of the master. In 1532, the pope invited him to complete the picturesque decoration of the Sistine Chapel with an image of the “Last Judgment” on its altar wall, and on the opposite wall? "The Fall of Lucifer" Of these two colossal frescoes, only the first was executed, in 1534–41, again by M. alone, without the participation of assistants. Despite the one-sidedness with which the artist treated its plot in this picture, retreating from all Christian traditions and presenting the second coming of the Savior exclusively as a day of anger, horror, struggle of passions and hopeless despair, despite the depressing impression it makes on the audience, it amazes the boldness of his design, the unique grandeur of the composition, the amazing skill of drawing, especially from angles, and in general belongs to the most marvelous monuments of painting, although it is inferior in dignity to the ceiling of the same chapel. A few years after the Last Judgment, M. painted two frescoes in the Paolina Chapel of the Vatican Palace: “The Conversion of the Apostle Paul” and “The Torment of the Apostle Peter,” now almost completely destroyed by time and soot. These were latest works his brushes. He parted with his favorite branch of art, sculpture, later, and already in a very old age worked on a small statue: "St. Sebastian", which remained unfinished (in the Kensington Museum, London), and a colossal group of "The Descent from the Cross", which remained unfinished (now in the Florence Cathedral); performed a small bas-relief "Piet à" and restored ancient statues of a dying Gaul and a river god.
The last years of the artist's life were devoted almost exclusively to architecture. In 1546, the pope appointed him the chief architect of St. Peter's Cathedral, due not only to his talent in general, but also to the experience in construction that he had previously acquired in Florence during the construction of the facade of the Church of St. Lawrence, the Medici tomb and the Laurentian Library and during later Roman work on the construction of the Capitoline Palace and Hall, Palazzo Farnese and Belvedere. Having accepted this new position, M. returned the plan of the Peter's Cathedral to the shape of a Greek cross (which, however, was later changed by the architect Maderna back into a Latin one), strengthened the pillars that were supposed to support the dome, and made a model of the dome itself, erected in accordance with it, after the death of the artist and still amazes visitors to Rome with its enormity, bold design, nobility general form and elegant details. Remaining until the end of his life the architect of the St. Peter's Church, he drew up designs for the Roman city gate Porta Pia, the churches of S. Maria degli Angeli and S. Giovanni de Fiorentina and some others. He died in Rome on February 18, 1564 and buried in Florence, in the tomb of its great citizens, the Church of S. Croce.
Together with L. da Vinci and Raphael, M. constitutes a triad of the greatest luminaries who appeared on the horizon of art throughout the Christian era. He gained loud, unfading fame in all three main artistic fields, but he was a sculptor par excellence: the plastic element predominated in his genius to such an extent that his paintings and architectural compositions were imprinted with this element. In his long life, he went through several stages of creativity, from the weakened naturalism of the 15th century. to the highest idealism and to the first symptoms of the decline of art, remaining, however, always sincere, strong and extremely original. Despite all these qualities, M.’s activities had a fatal influence on future fate art. His brilliant subjectivity, the bold arbitrariness with which he handled his tasks were contagious: numerous students and followers of the great master, having neither the depth of his thought nor his artistic power, could only assimilate for themselves external features his style, but were unable to penetrate his spirit; having adopted, along with M.’s virtues, also his weaknesses, they little by little brought the latter to their extreme limits and through this established them in Italian art mannerism and sophistication, which were not slow in bringing this art down from its previous heights. Of M.'s students, the painters Venusti, Sebastiano del Piombo, Vasari, Mini, and the sculptors Montorsoli and Montelupo became especially famous. M. liked to devote his leisure hours from practicing the figurative arts to poetry. The sonnets, stanzas and other lyrical poems that came from his pen are distinguished by the correctness of the language, the strength and conciseness of turns of phrase, and the sublimity of expressed ideas and sincerity of feeling, but there is a lack of fire and free flight of imagination in them. The content of these poems? love, art, worship of beauty, desire for the eternal and divine. Particularly interesting among them are the sonnets and messages dedicated to the Marquise Vittoria Colonna, the subject of the artist’s platonic love. Poetic works M. were published many times in the form of collections. Their best edition was made by C. Guasti (Florence, 1863). They have been translated to French Varcollier (Paris, 1825), and in German? Garis (Hannover, 1868) and Sophia Hasenklever (Leipzig, 1875).
Wed. A. Condivi, "Vita di M. Buonarroti" (Rome, 1553 and several later editions; German translation, Stuttgart, 1889); Harford, "Life of M." (L., 1857, 2 vols.); H. Grimm, "Leben M"s" (Hannover, 1860?68, 3 vols); Ch. Cl emans, "M., L. da Vinci, Raphae l" (P., 1861); G. Magherin " M. Buonarroti" (Florence, 1875); A. Gotti "Vita di M. Buonarroti" (Florence, 1876); A. Springer, "Raffa e l und M." (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1883, 2 vols.); D Levi, "M., l"homme, l"artiste et le citoyen" (P., 1884); Em. Ollivier, "Michel-Ange" (P., 1892); L. Roger-Mil ès, " M., sa vie, son oeuvre" (P., 1893); J.-A. Symonds, "The life of M. based on the Archives of the Buonarroti family at Florence" (L., 1893, 2 vols.) ; Passerini, "La bibliografia di M. Buonarroti" (Florence, 1875); E. Norton, "History of the principal works relating to the life and works of M." (Cambridge, 1879) and so on.
Brockhaus and Efron. Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron. 2012
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(Michelangelo Buonarroti) (1475-1564) Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet. With the greatest force he expressed deeply human ideals full of heroic pathos High Renaissance, … - MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI
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Michelangelo Buonarroti (Michelangelo Buonarroti; otherwise - Michelagnolo di Lodovico di Lionardo di Buonarroto Simoni) (6.3.1475, Caprese, now Caprese Michelangelo, Tuscany, - 18.2.1564, Rome), Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet. In the works of M., which largely determined the development of European art of both the 16th century and subsequent centuries, not only deeply human ideals full of heroic pathos were reflected with the greatest force High Renaissance , but also a tragic sense of crisis in the humanistic worldview characteristic of culture Late Renaissance. Born into a family podestà . M. studied with the painter Ghirlandaio (1488-89) and the sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni (1489-90), but the greatest significance for him creative development had works Giotto , Donatello , Masaccio , Jacopo della Quercia , and antique plastic. Already in his youthful works [reliefs “Madonna at the Staircase”, “Battle of the Centaurs”, both marble (like all subsequent sculptural works of M.), around 1490-92, Casa Buonarroti, Florence] the main features of M.’s creativity emerge - monumentality, plasticity the power and drama of the images, the reverence for human beauty. In Rome, M. creates the statue “Bacchus” (1496-97, National Museum, Florence), paying a kind of tribute to the fascination with ancient monuments, and the group “Lamentation of Christ” (1498-1501, St. Peter’s Cathedral, Rome), where he puts new, humanistic content into the traditional Gothic scheme, expressing the grief of the young and beautiful woman about his dead son. In 1501 M. returned to Florence and worked on works symbolizing the valor of the citizens of the republic who threw off the yoke of Medici tyranny. The colossal statue of David (1501-04, Gallery AH, Florence) gives rise to the idea of a formidable force (contemporaries called this feature of M.’s works terribilitá), of a heroic impulse restrained by a powerful tension of will. In the cardboard for painting the Palazzo Vecchio (“Battle of Cascina”, 1504-1506, M.’s composition is known from copies, see etude ). M. sought to show the readiness of citizens to defend the republic. In 1505, Pope Julius II calls M. to Rome, where he is entrusted with the creation of the pope's tombstone; the work was delayed, projects changed, and the construction (only a fragment of the majestic sculptural and architectural complex conceived by M.) was completed only in 1545. For the tombstone, M. created a number of statues, including “Moses” (1515-16, Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome), which became the central element of the last implemented version. Moses M. is a titanic personality, endowed with a powerful temperament and an equally powerful will; here M. introduces the temporal aspect into sculpture for the first time: when walking around the statue, one gets the impression of a gradually increasing movement of the figure, corresponding to an increase in the tension of the image. Also intended for the tombstone were two statues of slaves (the so-called “Rising Slave” and “Dying Slave”, both - 1513-16, Louvre, Paris), conceived as a contrast between a beautiful and strong young man trying to break his shackles, and an equally beautiful young man, hanging helplessly in them, and four statues of slaves that remained unfinished (circa 1532-1534, Gallery AH, Florence) and from which the process of M.’s work on the statue is clearly visible; the sculptor does not process the block evenly from all sides, but as if seeing a future work in the not yet cut stone, he goes deeper into the block in some places, leaving others almost unprocessed. This method of work practically eliminates the participation of assistants. M. also performed monumental painting cycles almost without outside help; This also applies to M.’s most grandiose pictorial work - the paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican (1508-12, see ill. ). The complex ideological program of the plafond highlights the following themes: scenes from bible book Genesis, starting with the “Separation of Light from Darkness” and ending with the “Intoxication of Noah”, prophets and sibyls on the sides of the vault, and finally, in the sails of the vault, strippings and lunettes - the ancestors of Christ and episodes from the Bible (miraculous deliverances of the Jews). The architectural divisions of the ceiling composition are such that not only excellent visibility of each figure and scene separately is achieved, but also a majestic decorative unity of the entire giant painting as a whole; frescoes are perceived as a hymn to the physical and spiritual beauty of man, as a statement of his limitless creative possibilities. In the 1520s M.'s worldview takes on a tragic hue. Main work these years - the construction and decoration of the New Sacristy of the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence, the tomb of the Medici family (1520-34, see ill. ). The two statues of the deceased dukes are devoid of portrait features: they are ideal images personifying an active and contemplative life. At their feet there are four statues in pairs depicting the times of day - symbols of fast-flowing time. Both in the heavy thought of Lorenzo and in the aimless movement of Giuliano, and in the gloomy pathos and unstable poses of the reclining figures, the deep pessimism that gripped M. in the face of the death of the freedom of Italy (in the process Italian Wars 1494-1559 ) and the crisis of Renaissance ideals. During the siege of Florence by the troops of the emperor and the pope (1529), the republic appointed M. head of the fortification work. After the fall of the city, M. worked on completing the Medici Chapel, and in 1534 he moved to Rome permanently. The last thirty years of M.'s life were marked by his gradual retreat from sculpture and painting and turning mainly to architecture and poetry. In Rome, M. paints a huge fresco “ Last Judgment"on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel (1536-41); in this composition filled with an avalanche of supernaturally powerful naked bodies, central place takes youthful and heroic beautiful Christ- a merciless judge of humanity. A painful tragedy also emanates from the frescoes of the Paolina Chapel in the Vatican (“Crucifixion of Peter” and “Conversion of Paul”, 1542-1550), partly anticipating the paintings baroque . Before last days During his life, M. was engaged in sculpting, but the “Lamentation of Christ,” which he executed for his own tombstone, was broken by him (assembled and completed by M.’s student, T. Calcagni; before 1550-55, Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence; see ill. ), and the so-called. "Pieta Rondanini" (1555-64, Museum of Ancient Art, Milan) remained in the stage of initial processing. These works reflected with particular force the spiritualistic sentiments of old M. But in the later period, M. was primarily occupied not pictorial views art, but grandiose construction tasks. The plastic principle dominates in M.'s architecture; In creating dynamic contrasts of masses, an important role is played by the intense, chiaroscuro-saturated wall relief, strongly protruding pilasters, plastically expressive platbands, and the “large order.” M.'s buildings prepare the ground for the Baroque, but their majestic tectonicism remains a purely Renaissance feature. As early as 1523-34, M. erected the building of the Laurenziana Library in Florence (by 1568, according to his model, the library's vestibule with a staircase was completed, the organic dynamics of its composition evoking the idea of a lava flow). From 1546 until the end of his life, M.’s main work was the construction of the Cathedral of St. Petra (see ill. ) and the construction of the Capitol ensemble in Rome (see. plan ) - the spiritual and secular centers of the “eternal city” (both works were completed according to M.’s plans after his death). According to M.'s plan, the Capitol Square acquired a trapezoidal plan; it is closed by the Palace of the Conservatives, flanked symmetrically by two palaces on the sides, a wide staircase leads to its open side, and in the center rises the ancient equestrian monument of Marcus Aurelius. At the Capitol, M. for the first time created a square open to the spaces of the city, demonstrating a deep understanding of the laws of optical perception of architecture. Building the Cathedral of St. Peter, M. retained the principle of centricity, characteristic of Bramante’s plan, but achieved great unity of the composition and the unconditional predominance of the space of the middle cross over the other parts. During M.'s lifetime, the eastern part of the cathedral with the vestibule of a grandiose dome was erected, and the dome itself was erected after M.'s death by Giacomo della Porta, who somewhat lengthened its proportions. In old age, M. increasingly turned to poetry. M.'s lyrics are distinguished by their depth of thought and high tragedy; in it M. talked about love, interpreted as man’s eternal desire for beauty and harmony, about the loneliness of the artist in hostile world, about the bitter disappointments of a humanist at the sight of triumphant violence. M.'s favorite poetic forms are madrigal and sonnet; They were not published during the author’s lifetime, although they were highly valued by contemporaries (B. Varkey, F. Berni, etc.). The first edition of M.'s "Poems" was published in 1623. M.'s creativity was one of the factors that stimulated the development mannerism , but, unlike the Mannerists, who one-sidedly understood his legacy, M. himself managed to fully preserve and express in his works his love for man and faith in his greatness and beauty.
Works: Rime. A cura di E. N. Girardi, Bari, 1960; Il carteggio... a cura di G. Poggi, P. Barocchi, R. Ristori, v. 1-2, Firenze, 1965-67 (continued ed.).
Lit.: Steinmann E. und Wittkower R., Michelangelo-Bibliographie. 1510-1926, V., 1927; The architectural work of Michelangelo. [Sb.], M., 1936; Mann T., Michelangelo's Erotica. Collection soch., t. 10, M., 1961; Alpatov M., Poetry of Michelangelo, in his book: Sketches on History Western European art, M., 1963; Libman M. Ya., Michelangelo Buonarroti, [M., 1964]; Michelangelo. [Sat., comp. V. N. Grashchenkov, M., 1964]; Rotenberg E.I., Michelangelo, M., 1964; Lazarev V.N., Michelangelo, in his book: Old Italian masters, M., 1972, p. 447-606; Tolnay S. de, Michelangelo, v. 1-5, Princeton, 1943-60; Ackermann J. S., The architecture of Michelangelo, v. 1-2, L., 1961; Binni W., Michelangelo scrittore, 1965; Weinberger M., Michelangelo the sculptor, v. 1-2, L. - N. Y., 1967.
M. Ya. Libman, R. I. Khlodovsky(literature).
Michelangelo Buonarroti is considered by many to be the most famous artist. Among his most famous works are the statues “David” and “Pieta”, and the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.
Consummate Master
The work of Michelangelo Buonarroti can be briefly described as the greatest phenomenon in art of all time - this is how he was assessed during his lifetime, and this is how he continues to be considered to this day. Several of his works in painting, sculpture and architecture are among the most famous in the world. Although the frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican are probably the most famous works artist, first of all he considered himself a sculptor. Practicing several forms of art was not unusual in his time. They were all based on the drawing. Michelangelo spent his whole life working in other forms of art only in certain periods. The high appreciation of the Sistine Chapel is partly a reflection of the greater attention paid to painting in the 20th century, and partly the result of the fact that many of the master's works were left unfinished.
A side effect of Michelangelo's lifetime fame was that his career was described in more detail than any other artist of his time. He became the first artist whose biography was published before his death; there were even two of them. The first was the last chapter of the book on the life of artists (1550) by the painter and architect Giorgio Vasari. It was dedicated to Michelangelo, whose work was presented as the culmination of the perfection of art. Despite such praise, he was not entirely satisfied and instructed his assistant Ascanio Condivi to write a separate short book(1553), probably based on comments by the artist himself. In it, Michelangelo and the master’s work are depicted the way he wanted others to see them. After Buonarroti's death, Vasari published a refutation in the second edition (1568). Although scholars prefer Condivi's book to Vasari's lifetime account, the latter's overall importance and its frequent reprinting in many languages have made the work a major source of information about Michelangelo and other Renaissance artists. Buonarroti's fame also resulted in the preservation of countless documents, including hundreds of letters, essays and poems. However, despite the enormous amount of accumulated material, in controversial issues only the point of view of Michelangelo himself is often known.
Brief biography and creativity
Painter, sculptor, architect and poet, one of the most famous artists Italian Renaissance was born Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni on March 6, 1475 in Caprese, Italy. His father, Leonardo di Buanarotta Simoni, served briefly as a magistrate in a small village when he and his wife Francesca Neri had the second of five sons, but they returned to Florence while Michelangelo was still an infant. Due to his mother’s illness, the boy was given to be raised by a stonecutter’s family, about which great sculptor he later joked that he absorbed the hammer and chisels with the nurse's milk.
Indeed, Michelangelo was least interested in studying. The creativity of painters in neighboring churches and the repetition of what he saw there, according to his early biographers, attracted him much more. Michelangelo's school friend, Francesco Granacci, who was six years older than him, introduced his friend to the artist Domenico Ghirlandaio. The father realized that his son was not interested in the family financial business and agreed to apprentice him at the age of 13 to a fashionable Florentine painter. There he became acquainted with the technique of fresco.
Medici Gardens
Michelangelo had only spent a year in his studio when he had unique opportunity. On the recommendation of Ghirlandaio, he moved to the palace of the Florentine ruler Lorenzo the Magnificent, a powerful representative of the Medici family, to study classical sculpture in his gardens. It was a fertile time for Michelangelo Buonarroti. The biography and work of the aspiring artist were marked by his acquaintance with the elite of Florence, the talented sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni, prominent poets, scientists and humanists of the time. Buonarroti also received special permission from the church to examine corpses to study anatomy, although this had a negative impact on his health.
The combination of these influences formed the basis recognizable style Michelangelo: muscular precision and realism meet an almost lyrical beauty. Two surviving bas-reliefs, "The Battle of the Centaurs" and "Madonna of the Stairs", testify to his unique talent at the age of 16.
Early success and influence
Political strife after the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent forced Michelangelo to flee to Bologna, where he continued his studies. He returned to Florence in 1495 and began working as a sculptor, borrowing his style from the masterpieces of classical antiquity.
There are several versions of the intriguing story of Michelangelo's Cupid sculpture, which was artificially aged to resemble a rare antique. One version claims that the author wanted to achieve a patina effect by this, and according to another, his art dealer buried the work in order to pass it off as an antique.
Cardinal Riario San Giorgio bought Cupid, believing it to be such a sculpture, and demanded his money back when he discovered that he had been deceived. In the end, the deceived buyer was so impressed by Michelangelo's work that he allowed the artist to keep the money. The Cardinal even invited him to Rome, where Buonarroti lived and worked until the end of his days.
"Pieta" and "David"
Soon after moving to Rome in 1498, his career was furthered by another cardinal, Jean Billaire de Lagrola, papal envoy to the French king Charles VIII. Michelangelo's Pietà, which depicts Mary holding the dead Jesus in her lap, was completed in less than a year and was placed in the temple with the cardinal's tomb. Measuring 1.8m wide and almost as tall, the statue was moved five times until it found its current location in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
Carved from a single piece, the sculpture's fluidity of fabric, the position of the subjects, and the "movement" of the Pieta's skin (meaning "pity" or "compassion") terrified its first viewers. Today it is an incredibly revered work. Michelangelo created it when he was only 25 years old.
By the time Michelangelo returned to Florence, he had already become a celebrity. The sculptor received a commission for a statue of David, which two previous sculptors had tried unsuccessfully to make, and turned a five-meter piece of marble into a dominant figure. The strength of sinew, vulnerable nudity, humanity of expression and overall courage made "David" a symbol of Florence.
Art and architecture
Other commissions followed, including an ambitious design for the tomb of Pope Julius II, but work was interrupted when Michelangelo was asked to move from sculpture to painting to decorate the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
The project sparked the artist's imagination, and the original plan to paint the 12 apostles grew into more than 300 figures. This work was later completely removed due to fungus in the plaster and then restored. Buonarroti fired all the assistants he considered incompetent and completed the 65-meter ceiling himself, spending endless hours lying on his back and jealously guarding his work until its completion on October 31, 1512.
Michelangelo's artistic work can be briefly characterized as follows. This is a transcendent example of high Renaissance art, which contains Christian symbols, prophecies and humanistic principles absorbed by the master during his youth. The bright vignettes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel create a kaleidoscope effect. The most iconic image is the composition “The Creation of Adam”, depicting God touching a man with his finger. The Roman artist Raphael apparently changed his style after seeing this work.
Michelangelo, whose biography and work remained forever associated with sculpture and drawing, due to physical activity While painting the chapel, he was forced to turn his attention to architecture.
The master continued work on the tomb of Julius II over the next few decades. He also designed the Laurenzina Library, located opposite the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, which was to house the library of the House of Medici. These buildings are considered turning point in the history of architecture. But Michelangelo's crowning glory in this area was his work as chief in 1546.
Conflict nature
Michelangelo unveiled the floating Last Judgment on the far wall of the Sistine Chapel in 1541. There were immediate voices of protest - nude figures were inappropriate for such a holy place, and calls were made to destroy the largest fresco of the Italian Renaissance. The artist responded by introducing new images into the composition: his main critic in the form of the devil and himself as the flayed Saint Bartholomew.
Despite the connections and patronage of rich and influential people in Italy, which were provided by Michelangelo’s brilliant mind and all-round talent, the master’s life and work were full of ill-wishers. He was cocky and quick-tempered, which often led to quarrels, including with his customers. This not only brought him troubles, but also created a feeling of dissatisfaction in him - the artist constantly strived for perfection and could not compromise.
Sometimes he suffered from attacks of melancholy, which left a mark in many of his literary works. Michelangelo wrote that he great tribulation and labors, that he has no friends and does not need them, and that he does not have enough time to eat enough, but these inconveniences bring him joy.
In his youth, Michelangelo teased a fellow student and was hit on the nose, which disfigured him for life. Over the years he grew increasingly tired of his work, and in one of his poems he described the enormous physical effort he had to put into painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Political strife in his beloved Florence also tormented him, but his most notable enemy was the Florentine artist Leonardo da Vinci, who was 20 years his senior.
Literary works and personal life
Michelangelo, whose creativity was expressed in his sculptures, paintings and architecture, in mature years took up poetry.
Having never married, Buonarroti was devoted to a pious and noble widow named Vittoria Colonna - the recipient of more than 300 of his poems and sonnets. Their friendship provided great support to Michelangelo until Colonna's death in 1547. In 1532, the master became close to the young nobleman Tommaso de' Cavalieri. Historians still argue about whether their relationship was homosexual in nature or whether he experienced paternal feelings.
Death and legacy
After a short illness, on February 18, 1564—just weeks before his 89th birthday—Michelangelo died at his home in Rome. The nephew transported the body to Florence, where he was revered as “the father and lord of all arts,” and buried him in the Basilica di Santa Croce - where the sculptor himself bequeathed.
Unlike many artists, Michelangelo's work brought him fame and fortune during his lifetime. He was also lucky enough to see the publication of two of his biographies by Giorgio Vasari and Ascanio Condivi. Buonarroti's skill is highly appreciated centuries-old history, and his name became synonymous with the Italian Renaissance.
Michelangelo: features of creativity
In contrast to the great fame of the artist's works, their visual influence on later art is relatively limited. This cannot be explained by a reluctance to copy Michelangelo’s works simply because of his fame, since Raphael, who was equal in talent, was imitated much more often. It is possible that Buonarroti's certain, almost cosmic-scale type of expression imposed restrictions. There are only a few examples of almost complete copying. The most talented artist was Daniele da Volterra. But still, in certain aspects, creativity in the art of Michelangelo found a continuation. In the 17th century he was considered the best at anatomical drawing, but was less praised for the broader elements of his work. The Mannerists exploited his spatial compression and the writhing poses of his Victory sculpture. Master of the 19th century Auguste Rodin used the effect of unfinished marble blocks. Some masters of the 17th century. The Baroque style copied it, but in such a way as to exclude literal similarity. Moreover, Jan and Peter Paul Rubens best showed how Michelangelo Buonarroti's work could be used by future generations of sculptors and painters.
MICHELANGELO Buonarroti (1475-1564), Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet. With the greatest force he expressed the deeply human ideals of the High Renaissance, full of heroic pathos, as well as the tragic feeling of the crisis of the humanistic worldview during the Late Renaissance. Monumentality, plasticity and drama of images, admiration for human beauty were already evident in early works (“Lamentation of Christ”, c. 1497-98; “David”, 1501-04; cardboard “Battle of Kashin”, 1504-06). The painting of the vault of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican (1508-12), the statue of “Moses” (1515-16) affirm the physical and spiritual beauty of man, his limitless creative possibilities. Tragic notes caused by the crisis of Renaissance ideals are heard in the ensemble of the New Sacristy of the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence (1520-34), in the fresco “The Last Judgment” (1536-41) on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, in the later versions of “The Lamentation of Christ” ( ca. 1550-55), etc. The architecture of Michelangelo is dominated by the plastic principle, the dynamic contrast of masses (Laurentian Library in Florence, 1523-34). From 1546 he directed the construction of the Cathedral of St. Peter, the creation of the ensemble of the Capitol in Rome. Michelangelo's poetry is distinguished by its depth of thought and high tragedy.
MICHELANGELO Buonarroti(Michelangelo Buonarroti) (1475, Caprese - 1564, Rome),
Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, one of the leading masters of the High Renaissance.
Youth. Years of study.
He received his primary education at the Latin school in Florence. Studied painting with Ghirlandaio, sculpture with Bertoldo di Giovanni, founded by Lorenzo de' Medici art school in the Medici Gardens. He copied frescoes by Giotto and Masaccio, studied the sculpture of Donatello, and in 1494 in Bologna he became acquainted with the works of Jacopo della Quercia. In the house of Lorenzo, where Michelangelo lived for two years, he became acquainted with the philosophy of Neoplatonism, which later had a strong influence on his worldview and creativity. The attraction to monumental enlargement of forms was already evident in his first works - the reliefs “Madonna of the Stairs” (c. 1491, Casa Buonarroti, Florence) and “Battle of the Centaurs” (c. 1492, ibid.).
First Roman period (1496-1501)
In Rome, Michelangelo continued the study of ancient sculpture begun in the Medici Gardens, which became one of the sources of his rich sculpture. The first Roman period includes the antique statue of Bacchus (c. 1496, National Museum, Florence) and the Pietà sculptural group (c. 1498-99), indicating the beginning creative maturity masters. Florentine period (1501-06). Statue of David Returning to Florence in 1501, Michelangelo received an order from the government of the republic to create a 5.5-meter statue of David (1501-04, Accademia, Florence). Installed on main square Florence next to the town hall of the Palazzo Vecchio (now replaced by a copy), it was intended to become a symbol of the freedom of the republic. Michelangelo depicted David not as a fragile teenager trampling on the severed head of Goliath, as the masters of the 15th century did, but as a beautiful, athletic giant in the moment before the battle, full of confidence and formidable strength (contemporaries called it terribilita - terrifying). At the same time, in 1501-05, Michelangelo worked on another government order - cardboard for the fresco “The Battle of Cascina”, which, together with Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “The Battle of Anghiari”, was supposed to decorate the hall of the Palazzo Vecchio. The paintings were not carried out, but a cardboard sketch by Michelangelo has been preserved, foreshadowing the dynamics of poses and gestures of the painting of the Sistine ceiling.
Second Roman period (1505-16).
In 1505, Pope Julius II summoned Michelangelo to Rome, entrusting him with the work on his tomb. Michelangelo's project envisaged the creation, in contrast to wall-mounted tombstones traditional in Italy at that time, of a majestic, free-standing mausoleum, decorated with 40 statues larger than life-size. Fast cooling Julius II to this plan and the cessation of funding for the work caused a quarrel between the master and the pope and Michelangelo’s demonstrative departure to Florence in March 1506. He returned to Rome only in 1508, having received an order from Julius II to paint the Sistine Chapel.
Paintings of the Sistine Chapel
The frescoes of the Sistine ceiling (1508-12) are the most ambitious of Michelangelo's realized plans. Having rejected the project proposed to him with the figures of the 12 apostles in the side parts of the vault and with the ornamental filling of its main part, Michelangelo developed his own program of paintings, which still causes different interpretations. The painting of the huge vault covering the vast (40.93 x 13.41 m) papal chapel includes 9 large compositions in the vault mirror on the themes of the book of Genesis - from the “Creation of the World” to the “Flood”, 12 huge figures of sibyls and prophets in the side belts of the vault, the cycle “Ancestors of Christ” in formwork and lunettes, 4 compositions in corner sails on the theme of the miraculous deliverance of the Jewish people. Dozens of majestic characters inhabiting this grandiose universe, endowed with a titanic appearance and colossal spiritual energy, display an extraordinary wealth of complex gestures, poses, contrappostos, and angles imbued with powerful movement.
Tombstone of Pope Julius II
After the death of Julius II (1513), Michelangelo again began work on his tombstone, creating three statues in 1513-16 - “The Dying Slave”, “The Rebellious Slave” (both in the Louvre) and “Moses”. The original project, repeatedly revised by the heirs of Julius II, was not implemented. According to the sixth agreement concluded with them, in 1545 a two-tier wall tombstone was installed in the Roman church of San Pietro in Vincoli, which included “Moses” and 6 statues made in the early 1540s. in Michelangelo's workshop. Four unfinished statues of "Slaves" (c. 1520-36, Accademia, Florence), originally intended for a tomb, provide insight into Michelangelo's creative method. Unlike contemporary sculptors, he processed a block of marble not from all sides, but only from one, as if extracting figures from the thickness of the stone; in his poems, he repeatedly says that the sculptor only releases the image originally hidden in the stone. Presented in intensely dramatic poses, the “Slaves” seem to be trying to break out of the stone mass that fetters them.
Medici Chapel
In 1516, Pope Leo X de' Medici commissioned Michelangelo to design the facade of the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence, built in the 15th century. Brunelleschi. Michelangelo wanted to make the facade of this parish church of the Medici family “a mirror of all Italy,” but work was stopped due to lack of funds. In 1520, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, the future Pope Clement VII, commissioned Michelangelo to transform the New Sacristy of the Church of San Lorenzo into a grandiose tomb of the Medici family. Work on this project, interrupted by the uprising against the Medici of 1527-30 (Michelangelo was one of the leaders of the three-year defense of besieged Florence), was not completed by the time Michelangelo left for Rome in 1534; the statues he made were installed only in 1546. The Medici Chapel is a complex architectural and sculptural ensemble, the figurative content of which has given rise to various interpretations. The statues of Dukes Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici, seated in shallow niches against the backdrop of architectural antique decoration and dressed in the armor of Roman emperors, are deprived portrait resemblance and perhaps symbolize the active Life and the contemplative Life. The graphically light outlines of the sarcophagus contrast with the plastic power of the huge statues of Day and Night, Morning and Evening, lying on the sloping lids of the sarcophagus in painfully uncomfortable positions, as if ready to slide off them. Michelangelo expressed the dramatic pathos of these images in a quatrain, written by him as if on behalf of Night:
It’s sweet for me to sleep, and even more so - to be a stone,
When there is shame and crime all around:
Not feeling, not seeing is a relief.
Shut up, friend, why wake me up?
(Translated by A. Efros)
Laurentian Library
During the years of work in Florence in 1520-34, the style of Michelangelo the architect developed, characterized by increased plasticity and pictorial richness. The staircase of the Laurentian Library was boldly and unexpectedly designed (project ca. 1523-34, carried out after Michelangelo left for Rome). A monumental marble staircase, almost entirely filling the vast lobby, starting right at the threshold of the reading room located on the second floor, flows out of the doorway with a narrow flight of steep steps and, rapidly expanding, forming three sleeves, descends just as steeply; the dynamic rhythm of the large marble steps, directed towards those ascending into the hall, is perceived as a certain force that requires overcoming.
Third Roman period
. "The Last Judgment"
Michelangelo's move to Rome in 1534 opens the last, dramatic period of his work, which coincided with the general crisis of the Florentine-Roman Renaissance. Michelangelo becomes close to the circle of the poetess Vittoria Colonna; the ideas of religious renewal that worried the participants of this circle left a deep imprint on his worldview during these years. In the colossal (17 x 13.3 m) fresco “The Last Judgment” (1536-41) on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo departs from traditional iconography, depicting not the moment of the Judgment, when the righteous are already separated from the sinners, but its beginning: Christ punishing with a gesture of a raised hand, he brings down the dying Universe before our eyes. If in the Sistine ceiling the source of movement were titanic human figures, now they are carried away, like a whirlwind, by an external force that surpasses them; the characters lose their beauty, their titanic bodies seem to swell with mounds of muscles, disturbing the harmony of the lines; movements and cutting gestures full of despair are disharmonious; carried away general movement the righteous are indistinguishable from sinners. According to Vasari, Pope Paul IV in the 1550s. was going to knock down the fresco, but instead the artist Daniele da Volterra was commissioned to “dress” the saints or cover their nakedness with loincloths (these entries were partially removed during the restoration, which ended in 1993). The latter are also imbued with tragic pathos. paintings Michelangelo - frescoes “The Crucifixion of the Apostle Peter” and “The Fall of Saul” (1542-50, Paolina Chapel, Vatican). In general, Michelangelo's late painting had a decisive influence on the formation of mannerism. Late sculptures. PoetryThe dramatic complexity of imagery and plastic language distinguishes Michelangelo's late sculptural works: “Pieta with Nicodemus” (c. 1547-55, Florence Cathedral) and “Pieta Rondanini” (unfinished group, c. 1555-64, Castello Sforzesco). During the last Roman period, most of Michelangelo's almost 200 poems that have come down to us were written, distinguished by their philosophical depth of thought and intense expressiveness of language.
Cathedral of St. Petra
In 1546 Michelangelo was appointed chief architect of the Cathedral of St. Peter, the construction of which was begun by Bramante, who by the time of his death (1514) had erected four giant pillars and arches of the middle cross, as well as partially one of the naves. Under his successors - Peruzzi, Raphael, Sangallo, who partially departed from Bramante's plan, construction made almost no progress. Michelangelo returned to Bramante's centric plan, at the same time enlarging all forms and divisions, giving them plastic power. During his lifetime, Michelangelo managed to complete the eastern part of the cathedral and the vestibule of the huge (42 m in diameter) dome, erected after his death by Giacomo della Porta. Ensemble of the Capitol Michelangelo's second grandiose architectural project was completed only in the 17th century. Capitol Ensemble. It includes the medieval Palace of the Senators (town hall), rebuilt according to the design of Michelangelo, topped with a turret, and two majestic Palaces of the Conservatives with identical facades, united by the powerful rhythm of pilasters. An antique equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius installed in the center of the square and a wide staircase descending to the residential areas of the city completed this ensemble, which connected new Rome with the grandiose ruins of the ancient Roman Forum located on the other side of the Capitoline Hill.
Funeral in Florence
Despite repeated invitations from Duke Cosimo de' Medici, Michelangelo refused to return to Florence. After his death, his body was secretly taken from Rome and solemnly buried in the tomb of the famous Florentines - the Church of Santa Croce.
BES - Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
“No man has yet been born who, like me, would be so inclined to love people,” the great Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet Michelangelo wrote about himself.
He created brilliant, titanic works and dreamed of even more titanic ones. Once, when the artist was at the marble mining in Carrara, he wanted to carve a statue from an entire mountain. He imagined: ...The ship is returning home from a long voyage, and together with a chain of mountains from blue sea a huge white statue rises, sparkling in the sun. Indestructible like the mountain itself, it glorifies beauty and strength free man and teaches everyone to be heroes...
Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475, and spent his childhood in Florence. He was 13 years old when he became a student of the artist Ghirlandaio. By the age of 25, he had already created many sculptural works, the best of which are “Bacchus” and “Lamentation of Christ.”
At the age of 26, the artist takes on an incredibly difficult job. In Florence there was a piece of marble more than 5 m high. One sculptor began to carve a statue out of it, but spoiled the marble and threw it away. The best masters, even Leonardo da Vinci, refused to make a sculpture from this mangled marble. Michelangelo agreed. Three years later the statue was ready. It was David, the young man who defeated the giant Goliath in single combat. The sculptor showed his hero at the moment when he prepared for battle: his eyebrows are knitted, his nostrils are flared, he looks at the giant with wide eyes, clutching a sling in his left hand.
Florence was going through difficult times, and, thinking about the misfortunes and courage of his homeland, Michelangelo created a statue of a young fighter who bravely enters into battle with the enemy, defending his people. In 1504, the statue was placed in Piazza Florence, right in the open air, so that everyone could see it.
In the same year, Michelangelo painted warriors preparing for battle, a cardboard “Battle of Cascina” for the painting of the Florentine council hall. The alarm call called the bathing soldiers to battle, they hastily crawl out of the river and grab their weapons and clothes. The artist depicted naked people in complex turns. He knew the human body perfectly, every muscle, every movement and was well able to convey its beauty.
In 1508, Pope Julius II gave Michelangelo an order to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The dimensions of the future painting exceeded 600 m2. In incredibly difficult conditions, lying on his back, the artist himself, without assistants, depicted a biblical legend from the creation of the world to the flood on the ceiling of the chapel. Best Look in this painting - the first man Adam, Courageous and beautiful, with his thoughts not yet awakened and his powers not yet revealed, he lies on the slope of a hill, stretching out his hands to the god who created him. An angel looks over God's shoulder, amazed at the man's beauty.
Michelangelo spent four years high on the scaffolding, overcoming muscle pain, endlessly wiping off the paint that was pouring onto his face. After that, his eyes almost ceased to see: in order to read a book or look at any thing, he had to lift it high above his head. Gradually this illness passed,
In 1520, Michelangelo began building the tomb of the Medici, the absolute rulers of the city, in Florence.
But in 1527, Florence rebelled, expelled the tyrants and restored the republic. The Pope, himself a member of the Medici family, sought to conquer Florence with the help of the emperor.
A staunch republican, Michelangelo took an active part in the defense of his native city: he was appointed chief engineer of all the fortifications of Florence. But the republic was defeated, and the artist had to hide for a long time. The Pope agreed to pardon him if the artist completed a chapel glorifying the Medici.
Michelangelo began work again and in 1534 completed the chapel with the tomb located in it. Four naked figures on the sarcophagi: “Evening”, “Night”, “Morning” and “Day” - seemed to symbolize the rapidly flowing time. The words that Michelangelo put into the mouth of his “Night” reveal the great master’s attitude to reality:
... Oh, in this age, criminal and shameful,
Not living, not feeling is an enviable lot.
Such were the thoughts of the defeated Florentines. After finishing the chapel, Michelangelo left Florence forever, but thoughts about his homeland did not leave him. And when the tyrant of Florence, Alessandro Medici, was killed in 1537, the artist conceived and later created a bust of Brutus, the tyrant fighter who killed the Roman Emperor Caesar.
“He who kills a tyrant kills not a man, but a beast in the form of a man,” said Michelangelo.
But Florence still groans under Medici rule, and Michelangelo lives in Rome. In 1534-1541 in the same Sistine Chapel where he painted the ceiling, the artist creates the fresco “The Last Judgment.” The colossal picture, according to the churchmen, was supposed to show the weakness of man, his submission to the divine will. But Michelangelo also introduced a spirit of rebellion, a spirit of struggle, into this fresco. In 1545, he finally completed the tomb of Pope Julius II, the order for which he received 40 years earlier. The best statues for this tomb were made back in 1513-1516: this is the figure of Moses - according to the biblical legend, the formidable and wise leader of the Jewish people - and the statue of two bound captive youths. One of them, having collected all his heroic forces, breaks out of his bonds, and the other, defeated, dies.
Here, as in many other later works, the artist does not hide his grief and despair. But his defeated, bound, dying people are always beautiful and strong. In this statement of the beauty and strength of man is Michelangelo's deep optimism.
Michelangelo did not carve a grandiose statue out of an entire mountain, as he dreamed of. But he built the greatest cathedral in the world, St. Peter's in Rome. On January 1, 1547, he was appointed chief architect of this cathedral. And although construction began before him and was completed after his death, the Cathedral of St. Petra bears the stamp of the great genius of Michelangelo: the artist redid the plan and built most of the cathedral, and a beautiful dome was built according to his model.
Michelangelo even perceived architecture as a reflection of human beauty. “It is absolutely certain that architectural parts are like parts of the human body,” he said. - Who has never been able or does not know how to reproduce well human figure, especially when it comes to anatomy, will never understand this.”
And now in the square near the Church of San Miniato in Florence there is a bronze copy of David as a monument to the artist who, with his art, asserted the freedom and beauty of man and defended them with arms in hand.
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