My favorite

I just wanted to say that I had a wonderful time learning about Michelangelo. There were so many things that I did not know before. I think his paintings and sculptures are so beautiful. I want to share my favorite piece of Michelangelo.

Pieta

Michelanglo's last days

In his final days, Michelangelo could no longer sleep. He wanted to be alone and silence was what he wanted. He claim's the night was his friend. He made himself a helmet that a candle in it so that he could work through the night.
These are Michelangelo's words concerning his last days.

"I live alone and miserable, trapped as marrow under the bark of the tree. My voice is like a wasp caught in a bag of skin and bones. My teeth shake and rattle like the keys of a musical instrument. My face is a scarecrow. My ears never cease to buzz. In one of them, a spider weaves its web, in the other one, a cricket sings all night long. My rattling catarrh won't let me sleep. This is the state where art has led me, after granting me glory. Poor, old, beaten, I will be reduced to nothing, if death does not come swiftly to my rescue. Pains have quartered me, torn me, broken me and death is the only inn awaiting me.

Michelangelo died on February 18th, 1564, after a "slow fever." IT was said of Michelangelo that he left "his soul to God, his body to the earth, and his material possessions to his nearest relations." There was not much left in his house because he had burnt most of it.

Lionardo Buonarroti, Michelanglo's nephew, took his uncle's body to Florence. Here the remains were taken to Santa Croce (where Michelangelo himself h ad wanted to be buried). There was a large attendance at the funeral to celebrate the life of a beloved artist.

The Final Materpiece

Michelangelo's final masterpiece was called the The Rondanini Pieta.Michelangelo worked on this piece for more than ten years. Michelangelo is revisiting his original Pieta by having Mary hold Jesus. It looks as though Christ is actually holding up Mary. It has been said that Michelangelo created it this way, so that it seems Christ is comforting Mary with his Spirit.
Here our Michelangelo's own words on his final masterpiece.

"the course of my life has finally reached In its fragile boat, over stormy seas The common port where we must account For all our past actions. No painting or sculpture can quiet my soul, Now turned to the Divine Love that opens To embrace me in His arms." "For ten years of sleepless nights, I've been designing a Pieta. The body of our Lord was too heavy with death to be held up by his old Mother. His head...too earthy with matter, too real...so I cut away the Lord's head and shoulders, leaving only his arm as a model for a new one, and carved a new head from the Virgin's shoulder. He backs inward to fuse with his Mother's body, as she bends forward to raise him up. Mother and Son, the Living and the Dead, become One - Death becomes a Resurrection."

Letters on St. Peter's Basilica

The following is a part of a letter Michelangelo wrote to his nephew concerning the work he wanted to do for God.

"Many believe, -- and I believe -- that I have been designated for this work by God. In spite of my old age, I do not want to give it up; I work out of love for God and I put all my hope in Him."

The following is a letter Michelangelo wrote about being harassing to get the work done.

"I spend my days supervising the construction of St. Peter's. The Vatican's financial superintendent keeps harassing me for a progress report. My response: your lordship, I am not obliged to, nor do I intend to, tell you anything. Your job is to keep the money rolling in, and out of the hands of thieves. I will see to the building."

This is part of a letter Michelangelo wrote to Giorgio Vasari about finishing the building.

"So, Vasari, God wants me to encumber him for a few more years. I know you will tell me I am a crazy old man to write sonnets -- but since many people say that I have become gaga, I have to live up to my reputation. I can feel through your letter the affection you feel for me. Yes, I would like to move my old bones next to those of my father, as you beseech me to do. But if I left Rome, I would feel guilty of dooming Saint Peter's to failure, and that would be a great shame and a deadly sin. When enough of the construction is done and nothing can be changed to it any more, I hope to follow your advice -- when it is no longer important to frustrate the appetites of those who hope that I will leave soon."

Michelangelo, the Architect

St. Peter's Basilica
Michelangelo's crowning achievement as an architect was his work at St. Peter's Basilica, where he was made chief architect in 1546. The building was being constructed according to Donato Bramante's plan, but Michelangelo became responsible for the altar end of the building on the exterior and its dome.
Michelangelo did not want pay for this work because he wanted to dedicated his last years to God and did not want payment for God's work.

The Last Judgement

After finishing the Medici Tombs, Michelangelo left Florence to return to Rome. When he arrived his was asked to design the Last Judgement. It would be painted by the Sistine chapel and would take four years to complete. This painting represents the day that Christ will judge us according to our acts. It shows Christ, with a clap of thunder, puts into motion the inevitable separation, with the saved ascending on the left side of the painting and the damned descending on the right into Dantesque hell.
During the painting, Michelangelo was accused of immortality because he drew naked figures. The person that accused him of doing this is in the painting, Michelangelo is showing him being skinned alive and being thrust to hell.

Poem of The Medici Tombs

Michelangelo wrote the following poem about the Medici Tombs.

"It is my pleasure to sleep and even more to be stone:
As long as shame and dishonor may last,
My sole desire is to see and to feel no more.
Speak softly, I beg you, do not awaken me."

The Medici Tombs

The Medici Tombs
After the Sistine Chapels, Michelangelo undertook the project of the the Medici Tombs of the New Sacristy of San Lorenzo. The tombs called for two large wall tombs facing each other across the high, domed room. One was intended for Lorenzo de Medici, duke of Urbino; the other for, Giuliano de Medici duke of Nemours.

The tombs of the Medici were of a completely new form. Michelangelo abandoned the traditional archicture style. Michelangelo renounced Christian traditions in order to portray Humanity to our eyes. He gave names to the statues of the sarcophagi: Dawn, Dusk, Day and Night. These smbols represent the suffering mankind.

Work on the Medici Tombs continued long after Michelangelo went back to Rome in 1534.

A poem

The following poem Michelangelo wrote about the Sistine Chapel:

This comes from dangling from the ceiling–
I'm goitered like a Lombard cat
(or wherever else their throats grow fat)–
it's my belly that's beyond concealing,
it hands beneath my chin like peeling.
My beard points skyward, I seem a bat
upon its back, I've breasts and splat!
On my face the paint's congealing.

Loins concertina'd in my gut,
I drop an arse as counterweight
and move without the help of eyes.

Like a skinned martyr I abut
on air, and, wrinkled, show my fat.
Bow-like, I strain toward the skies.

No wonder then I size
things crookedly; I'm on all fours.
Bent blowpipes send their darts off-course.

Defend my labor's cause,
good Giovanni, from all strictures:
I live in hell and paint its pictures.

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Temptation and the Sistine Chapel

One of the most famous stories of the Bible is the temptation of Adam and Eve. In this Biblical story, Satan is in the form of a serpent. He tempts Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit that will give her knowledge. She eats it and then gets Adam to eat. The following picture is Michelangelo's version of the story.
It seems at this point my blog is not allowing me to post pictures. Hopefully I can do that soon.

The Prophet Joel and the Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo painted 12 different prophets from the Bible on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. One of the minor prophets that Michelangelo painted was Joel. He is famous for his scripture that reads, "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your elderly shall dream dreams and your youth shall see visions"

Noah and the Sistine Chapel

Another of the biblical images Michelangelo painted was the Noah and the great flood. The Ark in which Noah and his family escapes the great flood is in the background. The people in front of the picture are the ones who are trying to escape the flood.

Adam and Eve of the Sistine Chapel

Michelangelo painted three panels that included Adam and Eve that are found in the second and third chapters of Genesis.
The first panel is when God is reaching out to Adam about to give him life. This is the most famous and most recognized of the Sistine Chapel. The Central panel is God creating Eve from a sleeping Adam. The last panel shows Eve taking the forbidden fruit from the serpent, Satan and Adam taking the fruit from the tree. It also has the scene of Adam and Eve being kicked out of the Garden of Eve.

The Sistine Chapel

Blueprint of the Chapel



While Michelangelo was waiting to be paid for all his work that he had for the Catholic Church, the Church came to him and basically said, "if you don't do this painting for me, I will not pay you your money."Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel between 1508 and 1512. The Sistine chapel is the location for Papal Conclaves and many important service.
It has been told that Michelangelo hardly ever left the Chapel while he was painting it. He would sleep on the scaffolding at night. He would also have his food brought to him and he would eat while he was painting. He hardly ever showered or change clothes. Supposedly, when he would finally take off his boots, pieces of skin would come off because he had been wearing them for so long.
The Sistine Chapel painting mainly consists of 9 stories from the book of Genesis, 12 prophetic figures, and the Last Judgment. The 9 stories from the book of Genesis are:

1. The Separation of Light and Darkness
2. The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Earth
3. The Separation of Land and Water
4. The Creation of Adam
5. The Creation of Eve
6. The Temptation and Expulsion
7. The Sacrifice of Noah
8. The Great Flood
9. The Drunkenness of Noah

(Pictures of some of these will be included in a later post)

The Twelve prophets are:

1. Jonah
2. Jeremiah
3. Persian Sibyl
   
4. Ezekiel
5. Erythraean Sibyl.
6. Joel
   
7. Zechriah
8. Delphic Sibyl
   
9. Isaiah
   
10. Cumaean Sibyl
    
11. Daniel
    
12. Libyan Sibyl

The Moses

After finishing the David, Michelangelo returned to work on the tomb of Pope Julius the 2nd. As part of the tomb, he carved a statue of the Biblical Moses. One thing that sticks out about this Moses is his horns. In the translation of the Bible from Hebrew into Latin there was a mistranslation. Instead of the text saying Moses had "something" sticking out of his head. The Bible said Moses had "horns" sticking out of his head.

Besides the Moses, Pope Julius tomb contained many other pieces. He took 34 marbles for the whole tomb. Michelangelo had to pay for all of it out his own pocket. The Catholic Church was suppose to pay him back. They were very slow to do so and in never fully paid him back. He stuck around in Rome hoping to get his payment.

The David

After Michelangelo finished the Pieta, he returned to Florence to work on a piece called the David. He worked on it from 1501-1504. Many other editions of David, he shown after the victory of slaying Goliath. Michelangelo did not do this. Instead he carved David before the fight contemplating the fight that was about to come. The block of marble that David was carved from so huge that it could not be brought down from the mountain. Instead Michelangelo had to design and oversee the buidling of a new road from quarry down the mountain. People were so impressed with the statue they decided to put it in the town plaza instead of top of the cathedral. The original now stands in Florence. A duplicate stands in the town square.

Pieta

When Michelangelo arrived in Rome, he was asked by a cardinal to sculpt a Pieta. This is a statue of the Virgin Mary holding the body of her dead son, Jesus Christ, on her lap. When he finished this work, it received much attention and recognition. It is credited to be the greatest Pieta ever made.


Michelangelo did not sign his name on his artwork very often. But one night he overheard a man give credit of the Pieta to another sculptor. He became enraged. He wanted to make sure this did not happen again. He returned to his Pieta with his carving tools and carved his name on the sash across Mary's chest.



This is one my favorite pieces of Michelangelo. I think it shows emotions and feelings so well. The vein's in Christ's hands are so realistic.

Who is Michelangelo?

Michelangelo Buonarroti was a painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer. He was born on March 6, 1475 in a small village near Florence. He grew up in the city of Florence. At a young age, Michelangelo was apprenticed under Domenico Ghirlandaio. He was so talented that he did not have to pay the studio fees instead he was paid a small salary. After a few years at the apprenticeship, he enrolled in the sculpture studio of Bertoldo di Giovanni. This was normally a 3 year internship, but Michelangelo left after one year because his master could not teach him anything anymore. Michelangelo knew more than his master did. At the age of 15, he was invited to live and work in the home of Florence's civil leader, Lorenzo de Medici. After the death of Medici, Michelangelo left for Rome. Rome would be the start of many paintings and sculptors for Michelangelo. Through out his life, Michelangelo did several pieces of art (many will be shared in later posts) and he shared his talent with many. Michelangelo died on February 18, 1564 at the age of 88..

History of Creativity 202 Project

My name is Kristy Smith and this blog is a project for my MFG 202 project. I thought of a couple of different things that I could do for a project. I actually started out making a 3d-figure of Adam, Eve and the Garden of Eden. But that project was not going as I had planned. I thought of the first day of class when we learned about Michelangelo and I remembered how much I really loved his paintings. That's when I decided I wanted to do something with Michelangelo. Then I thought about what I could do. I wanted to do something that I never done before. That's when I thought of a blog. I have always been interested in creating a blog but I have never had one before and I never knew how to do one. So this is my project a blog on Michelangelo. I will show different paintings, sculptures, and other projects by Michelangelo. Along with this, I will be learning more about my blogs and more about computers.