Michelangelo Buonarroti

Michelangelo’s religiosity did not prevent him from designing grand secular buildings in Rome during the last phase of his career. From 1546 he worked on completing the Farnese Palace, which had been begun by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, and at the same time (1538-1564) redesigned the Campidoglio (Capitol) on the Capitoline Hill the civic and political heart of the city of Rome. The scheme that he proposed (but that was not completed until the late 1550s) was for an oval piazza surrounded by three monumental palaces, with the famous antique bronze equestrian statue of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in the centre.

Michelangelo’s most impressive architectural project in Rome was St Peter’s Basilica, whose rebuilding had been started by Bramante c. 1508 and was continued by a number of architects over the ensuing decades. Like Bramante, Michelangelo, who took over the project in 1547, designed the basilica on the plan of a Greek cross surmounted by a hemispherical dome. At the time of his death in Rome on February 18, 1564, the walls, which are articulated by giant pilasters, had already been constructed; the dome was not completed until 1590 by Giacomo della Porta, who gave it its present pointed shape. Despite further amendments, most notably the addition of a nave in the early 17th century, St Peter’s remains a worthy monument to the grandeur and audacity of Michelangelo’s architectural ambition.

During his long lifetime, Michelangelo was an intimate of princes and popes, from Lorenzo de’ Medici to Leo X, Clement VII, and Pius III, as well as cardinals, painters, and poets. Neither easy to get along with nor easy to understand, he expressed his view of himself and the world even more directly in his poetry than in the other arts. Much of his verse deals with art and the hardships he underwent, or with Neoplatonic philosophy and personal relationships.

Michelangelo’s prestige has always been immense, and he exerted an enormous influence both on his contemporaries and on later generations of artists. The great Renaissance poet Ludovico Ariosto wrote of him: “Michael more than immortal, divine angel.” During the 16th century in particular his muscular, twisted figure-types were constantly reused by Mannerist painters and sculptors. However, none of his followers matched the emotional intensity, or terribilità, that was a recurrent feature of his own work, giving him within his own lifetime the status of “il divino Michelangelo” (“the divine Michelangelo”).