All the Michelangelos in Rome

Paintings, frescoes, and sculptures in Rome by the greatest of all Renaissance masters, Michelangelo Buonarotti

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Michelangelo Buonarotti, by Danile da Volterra.
Michelangelo Buonarotti, a bust by Daniele da Volterra in Florence's Bargello Museum.Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475–1564), born to an exceedingly minor Tuscan noble and nursemaided by stonecutter's wife in the hills near Florence, was being acclaimed as the greatest artist of his age while still a teenager.

Supremely talented, divinely inspired, both a great craftsman and insightful innovator, seemingly able to master effortlessly any artistic pursuit he attempted, he would become the High Renaissance's greatest painter and sculptor, and renowned architect, and trusted military engineer. He also wrote excellent poetry.

His fresco palette broke from the staid tradition of primaries-plus-gold and plunged painting into a festive new world of vibrant color. His figures—carved or painted—twisted and turned and carried their weight believably. Every face he created had a character behind it.

His proportions were mathematically precise and his creations exactingly naturalistic—except where they weren't; Michelangelo knew how to distort or exaggerate the rules to achieve an even greater artistic effect (when you're in Florence, study The David's hands and head; they're all outrageously oversized, yet somehow they look right).

He was also temperamental, whiney, sycophantic without loyalty, and all around a bit of a jerk. On the Sistine Chapel ceiling job, he was utterly dissatisfied with his assistants and ended up firing all of of them save one he kept on to help grind pigments (and, possibly, to help warm his bed at night; though he maintained a deep and spirited friendship with a woman later in life, that relationship was, by all accounts, utterly platonic and Michelangelo was, by all innuendo, gay).

Michelangelo's report card would definitely read "Does not play well with others." These character faults were unfortunately indulged or endured by those around him because he was so incredibly good at what he did. He was the first artist to be treated like a rock star rather than a common laborer or simple craftsman, and might well be counted as the art world's first true prima donna and enfant terrible.

We forgive him, too, because—hey, we all have faults; we're all human. Michelangelo just also happened to be, quite simply, the greatest artist who ever lived.

Michelangelo's works in Rome

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This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.

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