Michaelangelo Buonarroti - like his Florentine contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci - is one of the art's most versatile genuises. Possibly the greatest marble sculptor in the western tradition, he was also a master painter and architect. Had he only sculpted his first Pieta, painted the Sistine Chapel or designed St. Peter's in Rome, any one of thsoe achievements would have ensured his place in history.
Michaelangelo's ability to judge a block of marble was legendary; some even said that he could see the potential figure inside. However, for his David, Michaelangelo was obliged to rework a forty-year-old block, previously abandoned by another sculptor.
Leading up to the commission for the Sistine ceiling, Michaelangelo was in constant demand and always well awarded. Throughout his life, he invested wisely in property for his four brothers and possessed a fortune himself at the time of his death.
His response to the Sistine Chapel assignment was to protest: 'painting is not my art'. The rest - as we know - is history. For four highly uncomfortable years, Michaelangelo struggled to transform an odd-shaped, leaky vault with some of the most sublime and memorable images in the world.
As an old man, he devoted the final eighteen years of his life to St. Peter's Basilica. The dome that he designed was not finished in his lifetime, but he would be satisfied that it is now a world-famous architectural landmark.
