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Today we're going to learn about the famous
artist, Michelangelo.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Bounarroti Simoni,
known simply as Michelangelo, was an Italian
Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect,
and poet.
He was born in 1475 in Caprese, Italy.
When he was still very young, his family returned
to Florence, and his mother died when he was
only six years old.
Michelangelo's father sent him to school,
but he was not very interested in learning
what was taught there.
All he wanted to do was paint and become an
artist.
In 1488, when he was 13 years old, Michelangelo
was apprenticed to an artist, Domenico Ghirlandaio,
and in 1490 he was sent to continue his training
with the powerful Medici family.
Over the next few years he began producing
sculptures and honing his skills.
In 1496 Michelangelo moved to Rome.
While there he was commissioned to create
a statue of Jesus after he was crucified,
laying in the lap of his mother, Mary.
Michelangelo was 24 years old when he completed
this statue, called Pietà, which is regarded
as one of the greatest masterpieces of sculpture
in the history of the world.
Michelangelo returned to Florence and accepted
another commission, to create a statue of
David from a huge block of marble.
He worked on the sculpture for more than two
years.
When it was finished, the statue of David
was more than 17 feet or 5 meters tall and
weighed around 6 tons.
Today, David is Michelangelo's most famous
sculpture.
In 1505 the newly elected Pope Julius II invited
Michelangelo to return to Rome to create his
tomb, a project he worked on off and on for
the next 40 years.
Three years later he received another commission
when the Pope asked him to paint the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel.
Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor,
and not a painter, and did not want to take
the job, but he could not refuse the Pope.
The work in the Sistine Chapel took four years
to complete and was more than 134 feet or
41 meters in length and 46 feet or 14 meters
in width.
Michelangelo painted a total of 343 figures
depicting stories from the Bible, including
the creation of Adam, which is one of the
most famous paintings in history.
Painting on a ceiling was difficult.
Michelangelo had to work on a scaffolding
that brought him high enough to reach it.
Contrary to popular belief, he did not lie
down to work, but stood and painted above
his head.
After his work in the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo
was considered a great artist.
He made many statues, paintings, drawings,
and frescoes.
He wrote hundreds of poems.
He was also an architect, and designed the
dome of St. Peter's Basilica.
Michelangelo was so famous that there were
two biographies of him published while he
was still alive.
He died in 1564 at the age of 88, only three
weeks before his 89th birthday.
Today Michelangelo is considered one of the
foremost artists of the High Renaissance,
alongside Raphael and Leondaro da Vinci.
He had a profound impact on the artists that
followed him and continues to be studied today.
His works are among the most famous and widely
reproduced in history.
I hope you enjoyed learning about the famous
artist Michelangelo, and seeing some of his
beautiful work.
