1010 artworks by Michelangelo you shoul knowART

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Michelangelo, Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, 1508-1512 | © Brian Gratwicke/Flickr

The Sistine Chapel Ceiling

Mention Michelangelo and one work that instantly comes to mind is the artist’s stunning
fresco painted on the ceiling of the Vatican City’s Sistine Chapel. Commissioned by Pope
Julius II and created between 1508 and 1512, the work – which depicts nine stories from the
Book of Genesis – is considered one of the greatest works of the High Renaissance.
Michelangelo himself was apparently reluctant to take on the project, as he saw himself as a
more accomplished sculptor than painter, but the work nevertheless continues to enthrall
today with around five million people flocking to the Sistine Chapel every year to see his
masterpiece.
 Michelangelo, David, Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence, 1501-1504 | © Justin Ennis/Flickr

David
Quite possibly the world’s most famous sculpture, Michelangelo’s David was sculpted over
the course of three years, beginning when the artist was just 26 years old. Unlike many earlier
depictions of the biblical hero which portray David triumphant after his battle with Goliath,
Michelangelo was the first artist to show him in a tense, alert position prior to his legendary
fight. Originally positioned at Florence’s Piazza della Signoria in 1504, the 14-foot sculpture
was moved to Galleria dell’Accademia in 1873 where it remains today, displayed under a
skylight specially designed for the work by 19th-century Italian architect Emilio de Fabris.
 Michelangelo, Bacchus, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence, 1496-1497 | © Rufus46/WikiCommons

Bacchus
Michelangelo’s first large-scale sculpture Bacchus is, alongside Pietà, one of just two
sculptures that survived from his first days in Rome, and one of the few works the artist
created focusing on pagan, rather than Christian, subjects. The statue – which depicts the
Roman god of wine in a drunken, lolling stance – was originally commissioned by Cardinal
Raffaele Riario but was eventually rejected by him; by the early 16th century, though, it found
a home in the garden of banker Jacopo Galli’s Roman palace. Since 1871, Bacchushas resided
at Florence’s Museo Nazionale del Bargello, and is displayed alongside other works by the
master including his Brutus bust and his unfinished sculpture, David-Apollo.

Michelangelo, Madonna of Bruges, Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk, Bruges, c. 1501 -1504 | © Sailko/WikiCommons

Madonna of Bruges
Madonna of Bruges was the only Michelangelo sculpture to make its way out of Italy during
the artist’s lifetime; it was donated to its current home, Bruges’ Onze-Lieve-
Vrouwekerk (Church of Our Lady), in 1514 after the Mouscrons– the Belgian cloth merchant
family – purchased the work sometime in the early 16th century. On two occasions, the
sculpture has been removed from the church, first during the French Revolutionary Wars,
after which it was returned in 1815, only to be looted again by Nazi soldiers during World
War II – an episode dramatized in the 2014 film The Monuments Men, directed by and
starring George Clooney.
Michelangelo, The Torment of Saint Anthony, Tempera and oil on panel, 47 x 34.9 cm, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, c.
1487-1488 | © DcoetzeeBot/WikiCommons

The Torment of Saint Anthony

Texas’ Kimbell Art Museum has the pleasure of owning The Torment of Saint Anthony – the
first known painting by Michelangelo – believed to have been produced when the artist was
just 12 or 13 years old and based on an engraving by 15th-century German painter and
printmaker Martin Schongauer. Created under the tutelage of his older friend Francesco
Granacci, The Torment of Saint Anthony has been cited by 16th-century artists and writers
Giorgio Vasari and Ascanio Condivi – Michelangelo’s earliest biographers – as a particularly
accomplished piece that creatively embellished upon Schongauer’s original engraving and
achieved widespread recognition from peers.
 Michelangelo, Doni Tondo, Oil and tempera on panel, 120 cm (diameter), Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, c. 1506-1508 | ©
Amandajm/WikiCommons

Doni Tondo
The Doni Tondo (also known as The Holy Family) is the only known surviving panel painting
by Michelangelo. It was painted for the wealthy Florentine banker Agnolo Doni, most likely
to commemorate his marriage to his wife Maddalena, daughter of the prominent Tuscan noble
family, the Strozzis. Still hung in its original frame, a beautifully ornate wooden piece
designed by Michelangelo himself, the work has resided at Galleria degli Uffizi since 1635
and is the only painting by the master in Florence. The Doni Tondo’s iridescent hues and the
unnatural posing of its subjects are said to have laid the groundwork for the later Mannerist
art movement.
 Michelangelo, Pietà, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, 1499 | © paweesit/Flickr

Pietà

Alongside David, Michelangelo’s late 15th–century work Pietà is considered one of the
artist’s greatest works and certainly one of his best-known. Originally made for the funeral
tomb of French Cardinal Jean de Bilhères, the evocative sculpture depicts the Virgin Mary
holding the body of Christ after his crucifixion – a common theme for funeral monuments in
Renaissance-era Italy. Moved to St. Peter’s Basilica during the 18th century, Pietà is the only
artwork Michelangelo signed, and it has sustained considerable damage over the years, most
notably when Hungarian-born Australian geologist Lazlo Toth took to the sculpture with a
hammer in 1972.
Moses
Located in Rome’s beautiful Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli, Moses was originally
commissioned in 1505 by Pope Julius II as part of his funeral monument, but it was not
completed until after his death. Chiseled from marble, the sculpture is notable for its
inclusion of a pair of horns on Moses’ head – thought to be the result of a literal
interpretation of the Vulgate, a Latin translation of the bible – and was intended to be
joined by other works including the Dying Slave and Rebellious Slave, housed in the
Louvre in Paris.

Michelangelo, The Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, 1536-1541 | © Kevin Gessner/Flickr

The Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel

Another Michelangelo masterpiece located within the Sistine Chapel, The Last
Judgmentappears on the altar wall of the church and was executed some 25 years after the
artist had painted his awe-inspiring ceiling fresco. Often cited as one of Michelangelo’s
most complex pieces, the magnificent work portrays God’s final judgment of mankind
and was initially quite controversial in its depiction of nudity; in fact, the Council of Trent
condemned the fresco in 1564 and ordered Mannerist painted Daniele da Volterra to
cover up certain parts considered obscene.
Michelangelo, The Crucifixion of St. Peter, Cappella Paolina, Vatican Palace, Vatican City, c. 1546 – 1550 | © Arnaud 25/WikiCommons

The Crucifixion of St. Peter

The Crucifixion of St. Peter, the final fresco Michelangelo would paint during his lifetime,
resides in the Vatican Palace’s Cappella Paolina and was originally commissioned by
Pope Paul III in 1541. In contrast to many other Renaissance-era depictions of the saint,
Michelangelo’s work focuses on a much darker subject matter – his death. A five-year-
long, €3.2 million restoration project that began in 2004 revealed a very interesting aspect
of the fresco: researchers now believe that a blue turban clad figure in the upper left-hand
corner of the painting is actually the artist himself, which if correct would make The
Crucifixion of St. Peter the only known Michelangelo-painted self-portrait in existence.