Michelangelo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Michelangelo - Essay Example culture of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe is represented as a repudiation of medieval values in favor of the revival of the culture of ancient Greece and Rome† (Campbell, 2004, v-vi). The period is characterized primarily by a renewed focus on the symbolism and skill represented in the artworks of the ancient world. To the people that faced these remnants every day, such as the people who lived in Rome and other parts of Italy, the remains of buildings and statuary from the ancient world represented a golden age of shared culture, reason and creativity throughout the region. This refocus on the classic styles, subjects and artistic knowledge are exemplified in the works of Michelangelo Buonarroti who learned his art in the capital of this flowering rebirth, the city of Florence. An understanding of his life helps to indicate the great sensitivity he had in undertaking his many works of art, including painting, sculpture and architecture. Michelangelo Buonarroti was actually born in the town of Caprese in 1475, but was moved to Florence soon after his birth when his father lost the governorship of Caprese one month after his birth. Because of his mother’s constitutional frailty, Michelangelo was given to a wet nurse who turned out to be the daughter and wife of stonecutters, giving the small Michelangelo his first introduction to the stone and tools that would one day make him famous, a beginning he would never forget. â€Å"If I have anything good in my talent, this has come to me from having been born in the purity of the air of your Arezzo countryside; and also from having received with the milk of my wet nurse, the chisel and hammer with which I make my figures,† Michelangelo told his friend and biographer (cited in Labella, 1990, p. 44). His mother died when Michelangelo was only six, and he remained distanced from the rest of his family throughout the remainder of his life as his brothers born bot h before and after him were raised