The Last Judgment.
Michelangelo (1475-1564) was a sculptor, painter and architect widely considered to be one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance period, and possibly of all time. His generations recognized his extraordinary talent, and Michelangelo received commissions from some of the wealthiest and powerful men of his day, including popes and others associated with the Catholic Church. His resulting work, most notably his Pietà and David sculptures and Sistine Chapel ceiling paintings, has been carefully tended and preserved, guaranteeing that future generations would be able to view and admire Michelangelo’s genius. Michelangelo Buonarroti was born on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, a town in Tuscany. His parents were Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, the podesta, or mayor, of Caprese, and Francesca di Neri, who died when Michelangelo was six. The Buonarroti family was descended from Florentine nobility, but its financial and social positions had been seriously compromised by the time Michelangelo was born. A month after Michelangelo's birth, the family returned to Florence, where Michelangelo was entrusted to a wet-nurse. In 1485, Lodovico Buonarroti remarried, and Michelangelo returned to Florence to live with his family, briefly attending a local school. His father worked for the Florentine government, and shortly after his birth his family returned to Florence, the city Michelangelo would always consider his true home.
When most turist visit the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, they immediately look upon the world most famous ceiling painted by Michelangelo. When the ceiling was painted, Michelangelo became something of a god between artists, great in his talents for sculpture as well as painting. It could be disputed that the front wall of the chapel, which he painted 30 years later, is his greatest masterpiece between many masterpieces. It’s his description of “The Last Judgement”, seen over and over through many painted churches and chapels...