550th Anniversary of the Birth of Michelangelo Buonarroti

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born on 6 March 1475 (Caprese Michelangelo) and died on 18 February 1564 (Rome). This Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect and poet is described as a genius inspired by God himself. He grew up in Florence where he began his journey into art, which for him was a divine creation of a world in which man is the central figure of God's universe.

After arriving in Rome in 1496, he created his first significant work, a marble sculpture of Jesus and Mary – the Lamentation (Pietà) for St. Peter's Basilica. After returning to Florence in 1501, he created David, the earliest monumental sculpture of the High Renaissance, which embodies the entirety of Michelangelo's art. At the same time, he painted the Holy Family (Tondo Doni), one of the masterpieces of Italian art of the 16th century. The same characteristics of his David are also found in the sculptures of Moses and the Slavescarved for the tomb of Pope Julius II, who commissioned him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1508-1512). He returned to Rome in 1534, where he worked on the construction of the new St. Peter's Basilica. He modified Bramante's plan and conceived the basilica as a single and magnificent space dominated by a 138 m high dome. In the Sistine Chapel, on the west wall behind the altar, he painted the fresco The Last Judgment(1536-1541), his last major painting. During his lifetime, Michelangelo was considered the greatest living artist. Today he is considered one of the greatest and most versatile artists of all time.

(Željka Šaravanja)