Michelangelo Famous Paintings and Painters from around the world Michelangelo Famous Paintings and Painters from around the world Michelangelo Buonarotti born March 6, 1475, Florence died Feb. 18, 1564, Rome

[ Paul Cezanne ] [ John Constable ] [ Leonardo da Vinci ] [ Henri Matisse ] [ Michelangelo ] [ Raphael ] [ William Turner ] [ Vincent van Gogh ] [ William Blake ] [ Main Index ] Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564) exerted enormous influence. He, too, was universally acknowledged as a supreme artist in his own lifetime. Michelangelo resisted the paintbrush, vowing with his characteristic vehemence that his sole tool was the chisel. As a well-born Florentine, a member of the minor aristocracy, he was temperamentally resistant to coercion at any time. Only the power of the pope, tyranical by position and by nature, forced him to the Sistine and the reluctant achievement of the world's greatest single fresco. There has never been a more literally awesome artist than Michelangelo: awesome in the scope of his imagination, awesome in his awarenessand of the significance.   Sybille de Cummes ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City   Delphes Sylphide ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City The Holy Family with the infant St. John the Baptist All the same, it is the Sistine ceiling that displays Michelangelo at the full stretch of his majesty. Recent cleaning and restoration have exposed this astonishing work in the original vigour of its color. The sublime forms, surging with desperate energy, tremendous with vitality, have always been recognized as uniquely grand. Now these splendid shapes are seen to be intensely alive in their color, indeed shockingly so for those who liked them in their previous dim grandeur. [ Paul Cezanne ] [ John Constable ] [ Leonardo da Vinci ] [ Henri Matisse ] [ Michelangelo ] [ Raphael ] [ William Turner ] [ Vincent van Gogh ] [ William Blake ] [ Main Index ] Compiled by Steve Dawson for fun!