Learn About Michelangelo in Art History View His Art and Famous Paintings
"Doni Tondo, Buonarroti, 1503
Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564 was one of Italy’s most famous artists in art history. As both a
sculptor and a painter he completed the "Pieta" at the age of twenty-three in
1498-1500. His statement "The nearer painting approaches
sculpture, the better it is", seemed to put him on a road to becoming a sculptor,
and also seemed to foreshadow his style of painting for the Sistine Ceiling.
Asked by Julius II to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel he insisted
painting was not his profession. Astonishingly he completed the famous paintings
of the Sistine ceiling in just four years. As a painter Michelangelo did not like
landscape art. He did not like Leonardo’s atmospheric perspective and he did not
like Leonardo da Vinci. He preferred the old fresco art technique although he didn’t have
much experience in it.
He often called the life of the human soul, that which is expressed in the
beautiful
structure and movements of the human body, the body being the "mortal veil" of
devine intention. This is an
thought he carried with him and expressed in his paintings all his life.
Michelangelo painted the "Doni Madonna", a tondo,
signifying Renaissance marriage in 1503.
Although the rose and orange colors of the clothing
don't coordinate well aesthetically; there is a feeling of power in the monumental
size and foreground
placement of the figures, possibly foreshadowing future Sistine Ceiling art
figures.
Buonarroti's maturing painting style related to his sculpture, and
eventually to his Sistine Ceiling figures, is evident in the painting "Bruges Madonna", 1503-1504. His art shows
a simple, grander anatomical structure in the figure of the Christ Child.
The final development of his Sistine Ceiling figure style, is his "David"
sculpture, 1501-04. It is a colossal triumphal nude figure with great muscularity
raising humanity to a superhuman grandeur and beauty. It is an example of Renaissance
idealism and heroism, Michelangelo carried over to his Sistine
Ceiling figures, an art style that came to
represent the High Renaissance.
One of the most famous paintings in art history is the"The Creation of Adam", 1508-12.
The composition shows
the dramatic transfer of life and soul from God the
Father who reaches forth with the spark of life touching Adam while simultanously
carrying Eve (possibly the virgin Mary)
in his left arm.
As one of the most famous artists of the Renaissance Michelangelo painted "The Fall of Man and The Expulsion From the Garden of Eden",
1508-12. Adam
and Eve are eating forbidden fruit from the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil",
recommended
highly by the serpent Satan.
In the same scene they are being expelled from the
Garden of Eden by an
angel of God brandishing a menacing a sword.
The art of the Sistine Ceiling has now been newly restored eliminating the buildup of
grime and overpainting accumulated over many years.
To view the entire gallery of Michelangelo, click here
Click on the graphics below to increase graphic sizes. At the same you time can also view an opportunity to purchase a poster or painting reproduction.
|