The Pieta and David by Michelangelo Buonarroti

1044 Words3 Pages

Michelangelo Buonarroti is one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance times, as well as one of the greatest of all time. He did was a painter, a sculptor as well as an architect, excelling in all areas from a young age. Michelangelo’s art was a symbol of the Florence people’s cultural and political power and superiority. Michelangelo thought of himself as a divine being, meaning he thought he was perfection and no one could ever compare. To this day through, in terms of his art, this may hold some truth depending mostly on opinion. He created some of the most magnificent, and most sought after pieces of all time. Some of them are still around today for us to witness including Michelangelo’s Pieta, and one of his most famous Michelangelo’s David.
The artist was born March 6th, 1475 in the city of Caprese, which is located near Arezzo, Tuscany. His father, Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti di Simoni was mayor of Caprese at the time of his birth, and his mother was Francesca di Neri del Miniato di Siena. His mother got sick not long after his birth and in combination of his father being called back to Florence he was taken under the arms of a foster family in the city of Settignano. The family lived on a stonecutters yard, which is where the sounds and sights of stonecutting were engraved into the mind of Michelanglo leading him to become one of the greatest sculptors in history. According to Marcel Brion, author of Michelangelo, “All day long he heard the sound of the saw biting into the stone, the blows of the mallet, the grinding of the chisel” (7). As you can see, Michelangelo was brought up in the atmosphere of stonecutting so he was almost destined to be one himself. Michelangelo later returned to his family in Florence ...

... middle of paper ...

...ess. He created both these pieces before the age of 30. Many of his art was destroyed before his death because he did not think it was perfect, and he didn’t want anyone in the future to be able to criticize it. His idea that he was a divine being may hold some truth through his art because few have been able to achieve what he did with the tools he had to work with. Everything he made could not look like any other previous work of art and his unending chase for individuality changed Renaissance art forever.

Works Cited

Brion, Marcel. Michelangelo. New York, NY. The Greystone Press, 1940. Print

"Michelangelo's David." ItalyGuides.it. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. .

"Michelangelo’s Pieta." ItalianRenaissance. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Nov. 2013. .

More about The Pieta and David by Michelangelo Buonarroti

Open Document