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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Michelangelo Biography Michelangelo (Buonarotti), the greatest sculptor and painter known to modern times, and equally great as an architect. He was born in Italy (1474), and studied ancient art in Florence and Bologna, where he became famous by his statuary. His earliest work was a kneeling angel (Bologna), followed by statues of Bacchus and David (Florence), and a superb group (the Mater Dolorosa) which was erected in St. Peter's at Rome. One of his finest productions was a great cartoon in the ducal palace (Florence), of which the anatomical knowledge is so marvelous as to attract artists from every country to study it. It was at once said to have created a new era in art. Pope Julius II. summoned the painter and sculptor to Rome; and there were developed his powers of architecture. When asked to make a monument for the Pope, he constructed one so colossal in plan that St. Peter's could not contain it. Micbelangelo was thereupon set to reconstructing the great church, which he converted from a rather small and oriental building into the most magnificent cathedral in the world. Among his other supreme works were the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, and his great picture of the "Last Judgment," nearly 70 feet high, which his contemporaries believed to surpass all his other works for its nearly superhuman power and invention. He refused all payment for this labor, which he regarded as given to the glory of God. He died (1563) at Rome, but is buried in Florence. His poems, which are greatly admired by Italians, are translated by Arthur Symonds (London, 1900). Peoples Cyclopedia, Vol. III (New York: Syndicate Publishing, 1914) n.p. |