Michelangelo

I was given the name Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni on the sixth of March, in the year of 1475. My mother died when I was six. Later, I was sent to grammar school. I had no ambition to learn about any of the school teachings. I rather of been copying paintings from churches.  I knew from a young age, I wanted to be an artist. Sculpting, architecture just came to me naturally. I became an Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer. Many say I exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art.  Two of my best-known sculptures are the Pietá and the David. I created both of those before I was thirty. I never thought of myself to be the spectacular painter everyone else thought of me. Some said I created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.  In architecture, I pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library. When I was 74 I succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter’s Basilica. I was also the first Western artist whose biography was published during my life time. One was written by Giorgio Vasari. I would consider myself to be very unique. One of the qualities, in my opinion, most admired by my contemporaries was my terrbilitá. I believe that my impassioned and highly personal style resulted in Mannerism.