du Louvre, Paris
In the Renaissance, humanism was more an attitude and style of thinking than a doctrine. The focus was on man, not abstract intellectual ideas. The key issues were: What does man come from? Where does he belong in the universe? What, indeed, is man? Is perfection of this world?
Madonna of the Stairs
c. 1490
Marble, 55.5 × 44 cm
Casa Buonarroti, Florence
The answers were never final or dogmatic but open to analysis, debate and investigation. Humanism could mutate from Christian to pagan, from secular to whatever. Humanism took first root in Florence under leading Neoplatonists such as Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Leonardo da Vinci.
Crucifix
1492–1494
Wood polychrome, 142 × 135 cm
Santo Spirito, Florence
From there it spread throughout Europe. The powerful creativity, expressiveness and intensity of Michelangelo’s works beautifully illustrate the humanist conception of the world. To best understand the artist, we must begin with a look at his life.
Battle of the Centaurs
1490–1492
Marble, 80.5 × 88 cm
Casa Buonarroti, Florence
Childhood
The close of the 15th century marked the start of a new era. Decades of plague, war and famine had thrown Europe into a period of radical change. Mindsets were changing. Medieval values were rejected as people with a deep need for social change looked to their flourishing economies and a range of new technologies.
Angel Holding a Candelabra
1495
Marble, h: 51.5 cm
Church of San Domenico, Bologna
Lorenzo de Medici, François I and other great Europeans maintained that the arts were as important as war. Moreover, the printing press made culture more accessible to greater numbers of people. It was in these revolutionary times that a minor civil servant from the petty nobility of Florence was appointed local governor (podestà) of the diocese of Arezzo.
St Proculus
1495
Marble, h: 58.5 cm (with base)
Church of San Domenico, Bologna
His name was Lodovico di Leonardo Buonarroti Simoni and he settled in the town of Caprese. His second child, Michelangelo, was born on Sunday, March 6, 1475. After two terms as local governor, he moved the family back to their homestead in Settignano just outside Florence.
The Virgin and Child with St John and Angels (The Manchester Madonna)
c. 1495–1497
Egg tempera on wood, 104.5 × 77 cm
The National Gallery, London
When his wife died in 1492, he was left with five children to raise alone. Michelangelo was only six at the time. Left motherless, he became a tight-lipped, insolent and stubborn child.
Bacchus
1496–1497
Marble, h: 203 cm
Museo del Bargello, Florence
Packed off to board with a stonecutter’s family, he soon channelled his frustration into extracting stone from the nearby quarry alongside his foster family’s own children. Alongside them, Michelangelo learned the tools and skills that he would later apply to his masterpieces.
Pietà
1498–1499
Marble, h: 174 cm
St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican
“If there’s anything good in me”, he told his friend Giorgio Vasari one day, “it comes from being born in the subtle atmosphere of our Arezzo countryside, and, from my wet nurse’s milk, I drew forth the hammer and chisel I use to make my statues”, according to Robert Coughlan.
Nude Woman Kneeling
1500–1501
Study for the Entombment
Musée du Louvre, Paris
Later in life, Michelangelo would see this experience as the true source of his art. Michelangelo was to travel a path that diverged sharply from that of his brothers, who went into the silk business. He stood out because of his fine intelligence and sensitivity.
Sketch for a David with Catapult
1501
Musée du Louvre, Paris
His father sent him to study under Francesco d’Urbino, a top grammarian who opened Michelangelo’s eyes to the beauties of Renaissance art. But Michelangelo was always more inclined toward drawing than classical studies, and he quickly made friends with an older co-student, Francesco Granacci, who was also a student of the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio.
David
1501–1504
Marble, h: 410 cm
Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence
Struck by Michelangelo’s ambition and drive, Granacci persuaded him to take up art too and even helped convince his father, who thought “manual labour” was unbecoming to the son of a Florentine civil servant.
Study
