Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, better known as just Michelangelo (b. March 6, 1475; d. Feb. 18, 1564), was regarded as the greatest living artist in his lifetime and is held as one of the greatest artists of all time.
Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, were sculpted before he turned thirty!
Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created some of the most influential works in fresco in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, the best known of which is the now iconic Creation of Man.
Michelangelo defines the term “Renaissance man.” We are familiar with his sculptures and paintings, but did you know that Michelangelo was also an architect, engineer and poet?
At the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Michelangelo transformed the plan: the western end was finished to Michelangelo’s design; the dome was completed after his death.
But few of us know what this greatest of all artists (in my judgment) looked like.
Now a Discovery video has brought his visage to us.
Please try to ignore the atrocious diction of the female narrator of the video.
~Éowyn
