Michelangelo

Baby years

Michelangelo was born March 6, 1475 in the Tuscan town of Caprese north of Arezzo , in the family of the impoverished Florentine nobleman Lodovico Buonarroti ( Italian: Lodovico (Ludovico) di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni ) (1444-1534), who at that time was 169th Podesta ^8] . For several generations, representatives of the Buonarroti – Simoni clan were small bankers of Florence , but Lodovico was not able to maintain the financial condition of the bank, so he occasionally held government posts ^{[2] [9]} . It is known that Lodoviko was proud of its aristocratic origin, because the genus Buonarroti-Simoni claimed a blood relationship with the Margraine Matilda Kanosskaya , although there was no sufficient documentary evidence to confirm this. claimed that Michelangelo himself believed this, recalling the aristocratic descent of the clan in his letters to Leonardo's nephew ^[10] . William Wallace wrote ^[11] :

According to the record of Lodovico, which is kept in the museum " Casa Buonarroti " ( Florence ), Michelangelo was born "(...) on Monday morning, at 4 or 5:00 before dawn." This registry also indicates that christening took place on March 8 in the church of San Giovanni di Caprese, and godparents are listed ^[12] :

About his mother, Francesca di Neri di Miniato del Siena ( Italian: Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena ), who married early and died from exhaustion by frequent pregnancies in the year of Michelangelo’s sixth birthday ^[13] , the latter never mentioned in his voluminous correspondence with father and brothers ^[14] .

Lodovico Buonarroti was not rich, and the income from his small property in the village was barely enough to support many children. In this regard, he was forced to give Michelangelo a nurse, the wife of the “Scarpelino” from the same village, called Settignano. There, raised by a Topolino couple, the boy learned to knead clay and wield a chisel before reading and writing. In any case, to his friend and biographer Giorgio Vasari , Michelangelo himself later said:

Michelangelo was the second son of Lodovico. Fritz Erpeli cites the birthdays of his brothers Lionardo ( Italian: Lionardo ) - 1473, Buonarroto ( Italian: Buonarroto ) - 1477, Giovansimone ( Italian. Giovansimone ) - 1479 and Jismondo ( Italian. Gismondo ) - 1481. In the same year, his mother died, and in 1485, four years after her death, Lodovico married a second time. Michelangelo's stepmother became Lucretius Ubaldini ^[16] . Soon, Michelangelo was sent to the school of Francesco Galatea da Urbino ( Italian: Francesco Galatea da Urbino ) in Florence, where the young man did not show a special inclination to study and preferred to communicate with artists and redraw church icons and frescoes ^[17] .

Youth. First works

In 1488, the father resigned himself to his son’s inclinations and placed him as a student in the studio of the artist Domenico Ghirlandaio ^[18] . Here Michelangelo got the opportunity to get acquainted with the basic materials and equipment, his pencil copies of the works of Florentine artists such as Giotto and Masaccio belong to the same period, already in these copies the sculptural vision of forms characteristic of Michelangelo appeared ^[19] . The painting “The Torment of St. Anthony ” (a copy of the engraving by Martin Schongauer ) belongs to the same period.

He studied there for one year. A year later, Michelangelo goes to the school of the sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni , which existed under the patronage of Lorenzo de Medici , the actual owner of Florence. The Medici recognizes the talent of Michelangelo and patronizes him. From about 1490 to 1492, Michelangelo was at the court of the Medici . Here he met the philosophers of the Platonic Academy ( Marsilio Ficino , Angelo Poliziano , Pico della Mirandola and others). He was also friends with Giovanni (second son of Lorenzo, future pope Leo X) and Giulio Medici (illegitimate son of Giuliano Medici , future pope Clement VII ^[20] ). Perhaps at this time the Madonna at the Stairs and the Battle of the Centaurs were created. It is known that at that time Pietro Torrigiano , who was also a student of Bertoldo, quarreling with Michelangelo, broke the guy’s nose with a blow to the face ^[21] . After the death of the Medici in 1492, Michelangelo returns home.

In the years 1494-1495, Michelangelo lives in Bologna , creates sculptures for the crayfish of St. Dominic. Here he saw the terracotta sculptures of Niccolò dell Arca , forming the group “ Mourning of Christ ” and, apparently, remembered their dramatic and expressive position. Presumably, Bologna impressions were embodied in the Vatican Drink when depicting the face and hands of Jesus.

In 1495, he returned to Florence, where the Dominican preacher Girolamo Savonarola rules, and creates the sculptures Saint Johannes and Sleeping Cupid . In 1496, Cardinal Rafael Riario bought Michelangelo’s marble “Cupid” and invited the artist to work in Rome , where Michelangelo arrives on June 25th. In the years 1496-1501 he creates " Bacchus " and " Roman Pieta ."

In 1501, Michelangelo returned to Florence. Work on order: sculptures for the " altar of Piccolomini " and " David ". In 1503 , works were commissioned: The Twelve Apostles , the beginning of work on St. Matthew for the Florentine Cathedral. Around 1503-1505, the creation of the “ Madonna of Doni ”, the “ Madonna of Taddei ”, the “ Madonna of Pitti ” and the “ Bruger Madonna ” took place. In 1504, work on David ends; Michelangelo receives an order to create the " Battle of Cachine ."

In 1505, the sculptor was called by Pope Julius II to Rome ; he ordered him a tomb. This is followed by an eight-month stay in Carrara , the choice of marble required for work. In the years 1505-1545, work was carried out (with interruptions) on the tomb, for which sculptures “ Moses ”, “ Bound Slave ”, “ Dying Slave ”, “ Leah ” were created.

In April 1506 - again returning to Florence, in November followed by reconciliation with Julius II in Bologna . Michelangelo receives an order for a bronze statue of Julius II, on which he works in 1507 (it was later destroyed).

In February 1508, Michelangelo again returned to Florence. In May, at the request of Julius II, he travels to Rome to paint ceiling frescoes in the Sistine Chapel; he worked on them until October 1512 .

In 1513, Julius II dies. Giovanni Medici becomes Pope Leo X. Michelangelo concludes a new contract for work on the tomb of Julius II. In 1514, the sculptor received an order for " Christ with the Cross " and the chapel of Pope Leo X in Engelsburg.

In July 1514, Michelangelo again returned to Florence . He receives an order to create the facade of the Medici San Lorenzo church in Florence, and he signs the third contract for the creation of the tomb of Julius II.

In the years 1516 - 1519, numerous trips took place for marble for the facade of San Lorenzo in Carrara and Pietrasanto .

Between 1520 and 1534, the sculptor worked on the architectural and sculptural complex of the Medici Chapel in Florence, and also designs and builds the Laurenzian Library.

In 1546, the artist was entrusted with the most significant architectural orders in his life. For Pope Paul III, he graduated from the Palazzo Farnese (third floor of the courtyard facade and cornice) and designed for him the new decoration of the Capitol, the material embodiment of which continued, however, for a long time. But, of course, the most important order that prevented him from returning to his native Florence until his death was for Michelangelo his appointment as the chief architect of St. Peter's Basilica. Convinced of such trust in him and faith in him on the part of the pope, Michelangelo, in order to show his goodwill, wished that the decree announced that he was serving the building out of love for God and without any reward.

Death and Burial

A few days before the death of Michelangelo, his nephew, Leonardo, arrived in Rome on February 15, at the request of Michelangelo, wrote a letter to Federico Donati ^[22] .

Michelangelo died on February 18, 1564 in Rome, not having lived quite a bit before his 89th birthday. Witnesses of his death were Tommaso Cavalieri, Daniele da Volterra , Diomede Leone, doctors Federico Donati and Gerardo Fidelissimi, as well as a servant Antonio Franzeze ^[23] . Before his death, he dictated a will with all his laconicism: “I give my soul to God, my body to the earth, my property to my family” ^[24] .

Pope Pius IV was about to bury Michelangelo in Rome, building him a tomb in St. Peter's Basilica ^[25] . February 20, 1564 the body of Michelangelo was temporarily laid in the Basilica of Santi Apostoli .

In early March, the sculptor's body was secretly transported to Florence ^[26] and solemnly buried on July 14, 1564 in the Franciscan church of Santa Croce ^[27] , near the grave of Machiavelli.

There are several portraits of Michelangelo. Among them are Sebastiano del Piombo (c. 1520), Giuliano Bujardini , Jacopino del Conte (1544-1545, Uffizi Gallery ), (museum in the Capitol), Francisco d'Olanda (1538-1539 ), Giulio Bonasone (1546) and others. Also, his image was in the biography of Condivi, which was published in 1553, and in 1561 Leone Leoni minted a coin with his image ^[28] .

Describing the appearance of Michelangelo, Romain Rolland chose as a basis the portraits of Conte and d'Olande ^[29] :

“Michelangelo was of medium height, broad at the shoulders and muscular (...). His head was round, his forehead square, rugged with wrinkles, with strongly pronounced brow arches. Black, rather sparse hair, slightly curly. Small hazel eyes, the color of which was constantly changing, dotted with yellow and blue dots (...). A wide straight nose with a small hump (...). Thin lips, lower lip protruding slightly. “Little whiskers, and a forked, thin beard of the faun (...) a cheeky face with sunken cheeks.”

Nevertheless, in the cinema they preferred to portray him as more attractive than he was in reality ^[21] .

Michelangelo did not leave behind a single documented self-portrait ^[21] , however, a number of his works by researchers are considered possible images of the artist. Among them are “ Saint Proclus of Bologna ”, Holofernes head in the Judith and Holofernes fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the loser in the sculpture group “ Spirit of Victory ”, the face on the skin of Saint Bartholomew (fresco “The Last Judgment ”), Saint Nicodemus in “ Drink II ” ^[30] .

It is also believed that he is depicted in Raphael ’s fresco " School of Athens " ^[31] , although this statement is not unambiguous ^[32] . After the death of Michelangelo, Daniele da Volterra made the death mask of the sculptor and his bust ^[29] .

In 1536, Vittoria Colonna , the Marquise of Pescara, came to Rome, where this 47-year-old widowed poetess earned the deep friendship of 61-year-old Michelangelo. Vittoria became the only woman whose name is firmly associated with Michelangelo. Researcher Norton claimed that "his poems to her ... sometimes difficult to distinguish from sonnets to the young man Tommaso Cavalieri, moreover, it is known that Michelangelo himself sometimes replaced the signor’s address with the signor’s before sending his verses to the people ^{[[ 33]} . In the future, his poems were censored by his grand nephew before publication.

Her departure to Orvieto and Viterbo in 1541 due to the uprising of her brother Ascanio Colonna against Paul III did not cause a change in her relationship with the artist, and they continued to visit each other and correspond as before. She returned to Rome in 1544.

The biographers of the famous artist noted that “the correspondence of these two remarkable people is not only of high biographical interest, but also a wonderful monument of the historical era and a rare example of a lively exchange of thoughts full of mind, subtle observation and irony” ^[34] .

Researchers wrote about sonnets dedicated to Michelangelo Vittoria: “The deliberate, forced Platonism of their relationship aggravated and crystallized the love and philosophical storehouse of Michelangelo poetry, which largely reflected the views and poems of the marquise herself, who played the role of spiritual leader of Michelangelo during the 1530s . Their poetic "correspondence" attracted the attention of contemporaries; perhaps the most famous was the sonnet 60, which became the subject of a special interpretation ” ^[35] .

The recordings of the conversations of Vittoria and Michelangelo, greatly processed, were preserved in the posthumously published recordings of the Portuguese artist Francesco d'Olland ^[36] .

The genius of Michelangelo left an imprint not only on the art of the Renaissance, but also on all further world culture. Its activities are mainly associated with two Italian cities - Florence and Rome. By the nature of his talent, he was primarily a sculptor. This is also felt in the master's paintings, unusually rich in plasticity of movements, complex poses, distinct and powerful modeling of volumes. In Florence, Michelangelo created the immortal model of the High Renaissance - the statue of David (1501-1504), which for many centuries became the standard image of the human body, in Rome - the sculptural composition Pieta (1498-1499), one of the first incarnations of the figure of a dead man in plastic. However, the artist was able to realize his most ambitious ideas precisely in painting, where he became a true innovator of color and form.

By order of Pope Julius II, he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1508-1512), representing a biblical story from the creation of the world to the flood and including more than 300 figures. In 1534-1541, in the same Sistine Chapel for Pope Paul III, he executed the grandiose, dramatic fresco "The Last Judgment" . The architectural works of Michelangelo, the ensemble of the Capitol Square and the dome of the Vatican Cathedral in Rome, amaze with their beauty and grandeur.

The arts have reached such perfection in it that you will not find either the ancients or the new people in many, many years. He possessed such and so perfect imagination and the things that seemed to him in the idea were such that it was impossible to realize such great and amazing designs with his hands, and often he abandoned his creations, moreover, he destroyed many; for example, it is known that shortly before his death, he burned a large number of drawings, sketches and cardboards, created with his own hands, so that no one could see the works that they overcame, and the ways in which he tested his genius in order to reveal it only as perfect.

- Giorgio Vasari. “ Biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects .” T. V. M., 1971.

Famous works

• Madonna at the stairs . Marble. OK. 1491 . Florence , Museum of Buonarroti .
• Battle of the Centaurs . Marble. OK. 1492. Florence, Museum of Buonarroti.
• Pieta . Marble. 1498 - 1499 . Vatican , St. Peter's Basilica .
• Madonna and Child . Marble. OK. 1501. Bruges , Notre Dame Church .
• David . Marble. 1501-1504. Florence, Academy of Fine Arts .
• Madonna of Taddei. Marble. OK. 1502-1504. London , Royal Academy of Arts .
• Madonna Doni . 1503-1504. Florence, Uffizi Gallery .
• Madonna Pitti . OK. 1504-1505. Florence, National Museum of the Bargello .
• Apostle Matthew. Marble. 1506. Florence, Academy of Fine Arts.
• The painting of the vault of the Sistine Chapel . 1508-1512. Vatican.
  • Creation of Adam
• Dying slave . Marble. OK. 1513 . Paris , the Louvre .
• Moses . OK. 1515 . Rome, church of San Pietro in Vincoli .
• Atlant. Marble. Between 1519 , approx. 1530-1534. Florence, Academy of Fine Arts.
• Medici Chapel 1520-1534.
• Madonna Florence , Medici Chapel . Marble. 1521-1534.
• Laurenzian Library . 1524-1534, 1549-1559. Florence.
• Tomb of the Duke of Lorenzo. Medici Chapel. 1524-1531. Florence, Cathedral of San Lorenzo .
• Tomb of the Duke Giuliano. Medici Chapel. 1526 - 1533 . Florence, Cathedral of San Lorenzo.
• Crouched boy . Marble. 1530 - 1534 . Russia, St. Petersburg , State Hermitage Museum .
• Brutus. Marble. After 1539 . Florence, National Museum of the Bargello.
• The Last Judgment The Sistine Chapel. 1535-1541. Vatican.
• Tomb of Julius II. 1542 - 1545 . Rome, church of San Pietro in Vincoli.
• Pieta (Standing in a Coffin) of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Marble. OK. 1547 - 1555 . Florence, Museum of the Opera del Duomo .

In 2007, the last work of Michelangelo was found in the archives of the Vatican - sketching one of the details of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. The drawing, made in red chalk, is "an image of a detail of one of the radial columns that make up the drum of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome." It is believed that this is the last work of the famous artist, performed shortly before his death in 1564 ^[37] .

This is not the first time that Michelangelo’s works are found in archives and museums. So, in 2002, in the storerooms of the in New York, among the works of unknown authors of the Renaissance , another drawing was found: on a piece of paper measuring 45 × 25 cm, the artist depicted a menorah - a candlestick for seven candles. In early 2015, it became known about the discovery of the first and probably the only bronze sculpture of Michelangelo that has survived to this day - a composition of two riders on panthers ^[38] .

Poetry

Michelangelo's poetry is considered one of the brightest examples of the Renaissance ^[39] . To this day, preserved about 300 poems by Michelangelo. The main topics are the chanting of man, the bitterness of disappointment and the loneliness of the artist. Favorite poetic forms - madrigal and sonnet. According to R. Rolland, Michelangelo began to write poetry as a child, however, there were not so many left since in 1518, he burned most of his early poems, and destroyed some more later, before his death ^[40] .

Some of his poems were published in the works of Benedetto Varki ( Italian: Benedetto Varchi ), Donato Giannotto ( Italian: Donato Giannotti ), Giorgio Vasari and others ^[41] . Luigi Ricci and Giannotto invited him to select the best poems for publication. In 1545, Giannotto set about preparing the first collection of Michelangelo, however, things did not go further - Luigi died in 1546, and Vittoria died in 1547. Michelangelo decided to abandon this idea, considering it a vanity ^{[41] [42]} .

Thus, during his lifetime, a collection of his poems was not published, and the first collection was published only in 1623 by his nephew Michelangelo Buonarroti (Jr.) under the title "Michelangelo's Poems Collected by His Nephew" in the Florentine publishing house Giuntine ( Italian: Giuntine ) ^{[43 ]} . This publication was incomplete, and contained certain inaccuracies ^[40] . In 1863, Cesare Guasti ( Italian: Chesare Guasti published the first accurate edition of the artist’s poems, which, however, was not chronological. ^[44] In 1897, German art critic Karl Frey ( German Karl Frey ) published "Michelangelo's Poems, Collected and Commented on Dr. Karl Frey "( Berlin ) ^[45] . The publication of Enzo Noe Girardi (Bari, 1960) Italian. Enzo Noe Girardi ) consisted of three parts, and was much more perfect than Frey's publication in the accuracy of the text and differed in the best chronology of the arrangement of verses, although not entirely certain ^[44] .

Michelangelo’s poetry was studied, in particular, by the German writer Wilhelm Lang , who defended a dissertation on this subject, published in 1861 ^[46] .

Use in music

Even during his life, part of the poems was put to music. Among the most famous contemporary composers of Michelangelo are Jacob Arkadelt ("Deh dimm" Amor se l'alma "and" Io dico che fra voi ") ^[47] , Bartolomeo Trombonchino, Constanta Festa (lost madrigal to the poem by Michelangelo ^[48] ), Jean is where Cons (also - Concilium) ^[49] .

Also, composers such as Richard Strauss (a cycle of five songs — the first to the words of Michelangelo, the rest to Adolf von Schack, 1886 ^[50] ), Hugo Wolf (vocal cycle “Songs of Michelangelo” 1897 ^[51] ) wrote music to his words. Benjamin Britten (cycle of songs "Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo", 1940 ^[52] ).

On July 31, 1974, Dmitry Shostakovich wrote a suite for bass and piano (opus 145). The suite was based on eight sonnets and three poems by the artist (translation - Abram Efros) ^[53] .

In 2006, Sir Peter Maxwell Davis completed work on Tondo di Michelangelo (for baritone and piano). The work includes eight sonnets of Michelangelo. The premiere took place on October 18, 2007 ^[54] .

In 2010, the Austrian composer Matthew Dewey wrote the work Il tempo passa: music to Michelangelo (for baritone, viola and piano). It uses a modern translation of Michelangelo’s poems into English. The world premiere of the work took place on January 16, 2011 ^[55] .

Michelangelo was considered the greatest master during his lifetime. Now he is one of the greatest masters in the history of mankind. A significant number of his sculptures, paintings and works of architecture are the most famous in the world. His most famous work is the statue of David ^[56] .

• ( The Agony and the Ecstasy , USA - Great Britain, 1965) - director Carol Reed
• Спектакль Г. Мацкявичюса «Преодоление» (2010)
• д/ф «Микеланджело суперзвезда» ( англ. Michelangelo Superstar )
• д/ф «Микеланджело. Бесконечность» ( итал. Michelangelo — Infinito (Италия — Ватикан, 2018) — режиссёр Эмануэле Имбуччи
• х/ф Грех (Россия, 2018)

• (3001) Микеланджело
• Леонардо да Винчи
• Рафаэль Санти
• Тициан Вечеллио
• Сандро Боттичелли

• Michelangelo Buonarroti. He could do anything. The Echo of Moscow program from the “Everything Is So” cycle, Part 1 and Part 2
• at artcyclopedia.com
• on wga.hu
• Michelangelo's poetry translated by A. M. Efros
• Florentine Society
• Alexander Burganov “Michelangelo. Picture. The Age of Renaissance . " The Tretyakov Gallery Magazine, # 4 2013 (41)