Michelangelo, his full name being Michelangelo di Ludovico Buonarotti Simoni, was born on the 6 th of May 1475 in Caprese of Italy in a family with four other siblings. His father, Leonardo, was a municipal officer in their small village, however shortly after the birth of Michelangelo and the death of his wife, he moves to Florence along with his children. Leonardo, on the grounds of financial difficulties chose to bring along his four older boys and entrusted Michelangelo to a stone carver’ s wife. Because of that, Michelangelo develops his love for sculpting and, at the same time, an interest in watching painters working at nearby churches, activities which he finds far more interesting than going to school. Michelangelo started his affairs with art at the age of 13, despite the objections of his father, taught by Domenico Girlandagio. A year after the beginning of his apprenticeship, thanks to a recommendation letter by his tutor, Michelangelo is accepted to the palace of Florence’ s leader Lorenzo the Magnificent, member of the powerful Medici family, in order to study classical sculpting in the palace’ s gardens. Over this three year period( 1489-1492) Michelangelo completes two marble reliefs, one depicting Holy Mary( 1490-1492) and the other depicting the Battle of the Centaurs( 1491-1492), a sculpting made by order of Lorenzo himself.
Picture 2: Holy Mary( 1490 – 1492)
20