Tigertail Virtual Museum: 15th C. High Italian Renaissance -- Michelangelo part 2 of 3

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Michelangelo part 1
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Mannerists


	High Italian Renaissance 1490 to 1520 Michelangelo (Part 2 of 3)

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Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Ludovico di Leonardo di Buonarotti Simoni

born: Caprese, Republic of Florence [now Italy]; 6 March 1475
died: Rome, Papal States [now Italy]; 18 February 1564

The Years of Political Turmoil:
The Medici Chapel and the Laurentine Library.

1515

The Catholic Church gets into trouble with Martin Luther and Henry VIII ... not to mention problems with France.
Pope Leo X excommunicates both Henry VIII and Martin Luther. Henry VIII creates his own Church of England and Martin Luther disappears for a while, but the trouble he stirred up with his 95 theses continues unabated.

Pope Leo X had known Michelangelo since their boyhoods. He chiefly employs Michelangelo in Florence on projects linked to the glory of the Medici family rather than of the papacy. The city is under the rule of Leo's cousin Cardinal de' Medici, who will become Pope Clement VI.

The Cardinal got along well with Michelangelo. He took an active interest in Michelangelo's works and made detailed suggestions, but he also gave him great latitude for innovation and expression.

François I becomes King of France.

Michelangelo begins to move into architectural design with a small remodeling project at the Medici mansion and a large one at their parish church, San Lorenzo. He approaches such work with enthusiasm. It is just sculpture in the large.

The new façade for San Lorenzo was never completed, but Michelangelo and Cardinal de' Medici got farther with a more modest, related one, a new chapel attached to the same church for tombs of the Medici family, of these only two were completed in addition to a general devotional wall.

A Plan for the Façade of
San Lorenzo
1517

1516	41	The first of the young Medici heirs: Giuliano de' Medici dies. Lorenzo, his brother, also dies in 1519.
1517	42	In Germany, the most serious threat to the dominance of the Church begins: the Reformation. Martin Luther upset by the greed and corruption displayed by the Roman Church nails his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Church. One example of the Church's actions that Luther is upset about: Albert, Archbishop of Magdeburg, applies to the pope for additional territory. He receives the Archbishopric of Mainz and the Bishopric of Hallerstadt, but only on the condition that he is obliged to collect 10,000 ducats for the Roman Curia. This was additional money taxed over and above the usual exorbitant confirmation fees. To help him to make this large payment, the pope permits him to collect money and give grace to those who contribute to the new St. Peter's building fund; he is allowed to keep one half of what he collects, although he still also had to pay off his debt to the Curia. This transaction brings dishonor on the archbishop, the pope, and the Church.

Raphael: Leo X and his cousins.

Leo X fails to understand the Reformation as a serious crisis threatening the Church. He recognizes neither the gravity of the situation nor the underlying causes of the revolt.

1520

The handsome gay model Gherardo Perini came to work for Michelangelo. Michelangelo falls quickly in love. Their relationship lasts from 1520-25, and continues intermittently until the mid-1530s. Whenever Perini failes to show up at the studios, Michelangelo's night is wracked by anxiety.

Work on the Medici tombs advances slowly. The two tombs on opposite walls of the room have curved tops. A male and a female figure sits on each of these curved bases; these are personifications symbolizing day and night on one tomb, and dawn and dusk on the other. Perini is probably the model for Dawn, a sculpture on Lorenzo's tomb.

These figures are among Michelangelo's most famous sculptures. These four figures are naturally noticed more immediately than the effigies of the two Medici buried there. These sculptural portraits are placed higher and farther back in wall niches.

Among Michelangelo's many architectural projects this one was probably the most coherent presentation of his intentions, and even here the architectural details of the wall with the Madonna and saints were never finished nor were the other tombs, so the symbolism and theater that would probably have been created, withered instead.

Overview	Madonna and Sts Cosma and Damian
Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici 1526 to 1533 Sagrestia Nuova, San Lorenzo Florence, Italy
Giuliano	Giuliano (detail)
Night	Day

1521

On 21 December Leo X dies.

1522

On 9 January 1522, he is replaced by Pope Adrian VI.

Gulio de' Medici now commissions Michelangelo to design another annex to the same church, the Laurentine Library. It is required to receive the books bequeathed by Pope Leo X to his parish church.

The design for this library was constrained by the existing buildings, and it was built on top of an existing one. A small area on the second floor was used as an entrance lobby; it contains a staircase leading up to the larger library room on a new third floor. The long library room has traditional rows of desks neatly related to the rhythm of the windows and small decorative detail in the floor and ceiling.

Laurentine Library Reading Room
Sketches for Laurentine Library Stairs	Overhead View of Laurentine Stairs	Approach to Laurentine Library

1523	47	On 14 September, Adrian VI dies. Michelangelo's friend Gulio de' Medici, cousin of Leo X is elected Adrian VI's replacement on 18 November and takes the throne as Pope Clement VII.
1525	50
1527	52	The sack of Rome by the French in 1527 saw Pope Clement VII in flight; at the same time Florence revolted against the Medici, and restored their traditional republic.
1529	54	Peace of Cambrai between France and the Holy Roman Empire is signed.
1530	55	Florence is besieged by the Medici, wishing to retake their own domain.

During the siege of Florence Michelangelo was the designer of its fortifications. He understood defensive structures could be built quickly using simple materials in complex profiles that offered minimum vulnerability to attackers and maximum resistance to cannon and other artillery. The cannon, a new weapon, had come into use in the middle of the 14th century and, had given great power to attackers. Michelangelo figured out that lower, thicker masses are more effective than castle walls to defend against cannon attack.

No matter how good the defenses, Florence was still defeated and the Medici ruled again. The Pope quickly forgave Michelangelo's part in the rebellion.

Sketch for
Fortifications for Florence
about 1525

Michelangelo returned to work on the Medici family tombs. Two sculptures from this period are the Apollo or David, whose real title is unknown, and Victory, representing the triumph of youth over age. The last may have been meant for the tomb of Pope Julius; this motif had been present in Michelangelos' plans for it.

Victory
For the Tomb of Julius II
about 1530

Apollo
about 1530

Crouching Boy
1533
Hermitage Museum
St Petersburg, Russia

Continue with Part 3 the Final Years in Rome.

Early Italian Renaissance
High Italian Renaissance
Michelangelo part 1
Michelangelo part 3
Mannerists

2004-10-13

Michelangelo (Part 2 of 3)

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Ludovico di Leonardo di Buonarotti Simoni

Continue with Part 3 the Final Years in Rome.

Michelangelo
(Part 2 of 3)

Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Ludovico di Leonardo di Buonarotti Simoni