Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born in 1475, in Caprese, Tuscany, and died in 1564, at the age of 88, absurd for the time, working until three days earlier on a work that would never be finished. The official history describes him as a serene genius, touched by grace. The real story is that of a man at war: with the Pope, with death, with the imperfection of the world, and above all with himself.
The burning world that formed him
In 1527, when Michelangelo was 52 years old, Rome was sacked by the troops of Emperor Charles V, the Sacco di Roma. Soldiers invaded the city, massacred civilians and desecrated churches, while Pope Clement VII took refuge in Castel Sant'Angelo. The Protestant Reformation had already split Christianity in half, and the question that hung over everyone was: if God rules the universe, how did he let this happen? It is in this context of collapse that Michelangelo sculpts and paints.
The opposite of Raphael
If Rafael solved the problem of order, how to make chaos seem harmonious, Michelangelo solved the opposite problem: how to express what has no name, the pain that cannot be put into words, the faith that coexists with doubt, the greatness that coexists with failure. Rafael painted the world as it should be; Michelangelo, how it feels. And this is much more difficult, because anyone can create beauty from beauty, but Michelangelo created beauty from rupture.
A life of conflict that bred greatness
Son of a declining gentry family, he learned sculpture as a boy under the protection of Lorenzo de' Medici, and spent most of his adult life in Rome, commissioned by popes who admired him and with whom he constantly fought. His three most discussed works, the Last Judgment, the Pietà and Moses, are three different answers to the same question that anyone asks themselves when everything falls apart: where is God when we need him most?
The insight that runs through his entire work is simple and uncomfortable: greatness is not born from harmony, it is born from conflict that cannot be abandoned. And that's why Michelangelo still rules the way the world thinks about conflict, overcoming, and greatness, five hundred years later.
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Who was Michelangelo?
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet, one of the greatest names of the Renaissance, author of works such as David, Pietà, Moses and the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.
What is the difference between Michelangelo and Raphael?
Rafael solved the problem of order, how to make the world seem harmonious; Michelangelo solved the opposite problem, how to express the pain, doubt and conflict that have no name. Rafael painted the world as it should be; Michelangelo, how it feels.
How many years did Michelangelo live and what did he do until the end of his life?
He lived an absurd 88 years for the time, and worked until three days before his death, in 1564, on an unfinished Pietà, the Pietà Rondanini, today in Milan.
Continue on the Michelangelo cluster: The Last Judgment, by Michelangelo · The Pietà, by Michelangelo · Moses, by Michelangelo
Source class (YouTube): Quem foi Michelangelo (NousCast)