Michelangelo

1475 – 1564 · died at about 89^[1][2]

Art

Fun Facts About Michelangelo

• Michelangelo once carved a sleeping Cupid that was treated to look ancient and sold as an antique. The cardinal who bought it discovered the fraud but was so impressed he invited the artist to Rome.^[1]
• Michelangelo's disfigured nose came from a fellow pupil, Pietro Torrigiano, who struck him on the nose when he was 17.^[1]
• The Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica is Michelangelo's only work known to have been signed. His name is carved on Mary's sash.^[1]
• After heavy snowfalls in January 1494, Piero de' Medici commissioned a statue made of snow, and Michelangelo returned to the Medici court.^[1]
• Sentenced to death by a Medici pope, Michelangelo is thought to have hidden for two months in a small room under the Medici chapels. His drawings there stayed hidden until 1975.^[1]
• As a boy Michelangelo lived with a nanny whose husband was a stonecutter, and he later said he took in the knack of handling chisel and hammer with his nurse's milk.^[1]
• Galileo was born just 3 days before Michelangelo died, both in February 1564.^[1][2][3][4]
• Michelangelo was alive at the same time as Francis Bacon — their lives overlapped for 3 years (1561–1564).^[1][2][5][6]

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. He was born in the Republic of Florence but was mostly active in Rome from his 30s onwards. His work was inspired by models from classical antiquity and had a lasting influence on Western art. Michelangelo's creative abilities and mastery in a range of artistic arenas define him as an archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and elder contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci. Given the sheer volume of surviving correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences, Michelangelo is one of the best-documented artists of the 16th century. He was lauded by contemporary biographers as the most accomplished artist of his era.^[1]

Contemporaries

Suleiman the Magnificent

70 yr overlap

Nicolaus Copernicus

68 yr overlap

Martin Luther

63 yr overlap

Hernán Cortés

62 yr overlap

Henry VIII

56 yr overlap

Albrecht Dürer

53 yr overlap

Niccolò Machiavelli

52 yr overlap

Vasco da Gama

49 yr overlap

Leonardo da Vinci

44 yr overlap

Ferdinand Magellan

41 yr overlap

Raphael

37 yr overlap

Christopher Columbus

31 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Michelangelo

When was Michelangelo born?

Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475, and died on February 18, 1564.

How old was Michelangelo at death?

Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475, and died on February 18, 1564, at age 88.

What was Michelangelo known for?

Michelangelo was known for: Sistine Chapel, David sculpture. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. He was born in the Republic of Florence but was mostly active in Rome from his 30s onwards. His work was inspired by models from classical antiquity and had a lasting influence on Western art. Michelangelo's creative abilities and mastery in a range of artistic arenas define him as an archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and elder contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci. Given the sheer volume of surviving correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences, Michelangelo is one of the best-documented artists of the 16th century. He was lauded by contemporary biographers as the most accomplished artist of his era.

Who was alive at the same time as Michelangelo?

Michelangelo's closest contemporary was Suleiman the Magnificent. Their lives overlapped for 70 years.