MICHAEL ANGELO ,(BUONAROTTI), who, in an age when Christian art had reached its zenith, stood almost unrivaled as a painter, sculptor, and architect, was born in 1414 at Chittsi. in Italy. He was of noble origin, having, descended on his mother's side from the ancient family of Canosqa, in Tuscany, while the Buonarotti had long- been associated with places of trust in the Florentine republic. Michael Angelo loarned the rudiments of painting from Bertoldo, pupil Of Domenico Gbirlandaio ; and having been admitted tAs a student into the seminary which was established by Lorenzo the Magnificent for the study of ancient art in conuection with the collections of statuary in the Medicean gar dens, he attracted the notice of Lorenzo by the artistic skill with which he had restored the inutilated head of a laughing faun, and was receiVed into the palace of the 3Iedici, where he spent several years. Lorenzo's death in 1492, and the temporary reverses which befell the Medici family in consequence of the incapacity of his successor, Piero, led _Michael Angelo to retire to Bologna, whence he soon removed to Rome, whither his fame had preceded him. His earliest original works were a kneelino. angel, executed for the grave of St. Dominic, at Bologna; the statues of Bacchus and'David at Florence; and a magnificent group representing the Mater Dolorosa, which was placed in St. Peter's, at Rome. Next in order of time, and, according to some of his contemporaries, first in merit, ranks Michael Angelo's great cartoon for the ducal palace at Florence, which, together with the pendant executed by Leonardo da Vinci, has long since per ighed This work. which represented a scene in the wars with Pisa, when a number of young Florentines, while bathing in the Arno,, are surprised by an attack of the Pisans, showed so inarvelons a knovvledge of the anatomical development of the human figure, and sueli extraordinary facility in the pocvers of execution, that it became a study for artists of every land, and by its excellence created a new era in art. Pope Julius H. called 3lichael Angelo to Rome, and commissioned him to make his monument, which WaS to be erect,ed within St. Peter's. Although this work was never completed on the colossal scale on which it had been designed, and was ultitnately erected in the church of St. Eietro ad Vincula, it is a magnificent composition, and is memorable for having giving occasion to the reconstruction of St. Peter's on its present sublime plan, in order
the better to adapt it to the colossal dimensions of the proposed monuinent. The pope insisted upon 3Iichael Ang:elo paintino- with his own hand the ceiling of the Sistine -chapel, and, although unwillingly, he riegan in 1508, and completed within less than two years his colossal task, which proved one of the most marvelous of his works. The subjects of these e,artoons are taken from the book of Genesis, while between these and the representations of the persons of the Savior's genealogy are colossal figures of the prophets and sibyls. Michael Angelo's genius was too often trammeled by the unworthy tasks in which Leo X. and successive popes engaged him, the former having employed him for years in excavating- roads for the transportation of marble from Carrara, and in •other ignoble labors. The Florentines aud Bolognese vied with the pontiffs in trying to secure, his services; and to his skill as an engineer Florence was indebted for the plans of the fortifications by which she was enabled for a prolonged time to recist the attempts of the Medici to recover possession of the city after their expulsion from it. On the sur render of Florence, he returned to Rome, where his great picture of the last judgment was painted for the altar of the Sistine chapel. This colossal fresco, nearly 70 feet in height, which was completed in 1541, was regarded by contemporary critics as having surpassed all his other works for the unparalleled powers of invention and the con summate knowledge of the human figure which it displayed. Aft,er its completion, Michael Angelo devoted himself to the perfectiug of St. Peter's, which, by the touch of his geaius, was converted from a mere Saracenic hall into the most superb model of a ,Clinstian church. He refused all remuneration for this labor, which he regarded as a service to the glory of God. 3Iichael Angelo died in 1563, at Rome, but his remains -were removed to Florence, and laid within the church of Santa Croce. His piety, benevolence, and liberality made him generally beloved; and in the history of art, no name shines with a more unsullied luster than that of 3lichael Angela—See Vasari'a Vete de' Pittore (English translation), and Lives by Duppa (1806), Harford (185'7), and Wilson (1876).