Brief Biography-In short, Vasari stated, that whilst industrious spirits illuminated by Giotto and his followers, were striving to give the world proof of the talent which the benevolence of the stars had bestowed upon their genius, all toiling anxiously, though in vain, in their eagerness to imitate the grandeur of nature with the skills of art. To come as close as they could to that knowledge many call intelligence, the most benevolent Ruler of Heaven mercifully turned His eyes to Earth, and, witnessing the hopeless quantity of labours, he decided to send Earth a spirit. He bequeathed to this spirit as his native city, Florence.
Thus in 1474, under a fateful and fortunate star, a son was born in the Casentino district to Lodovico di Lionardo Buonarroti Simoni, chief magistrate in Castle Chiusi and Caprese, in the diocese of Arezzo, where Saint Francis received the stigmata, and he gave his son the name Michelangelo.
When Lodovico’s term as magistrate ended, he returned to Florence. His farm was near quarries, where he gave Michelangelo to a wet nurse in the villa who was the wife of a stonecutter. He later said to Vasari, Giorgio, if I have any intelligence at all, it has come from being born in the pure air of your native Arezzo, and because I took the hammer and chisels, with which I carve my figures from my wet nurse’s milk.

Michelangelo was sent to Florence to study a literary profession, but his genius urged him towards sculpture and painting despite the remonstrations of his parents. In his fourteenth year, he became a disciple of Domenico Ghirlandaio, a master who was more renowned for the number of worthy artists he fashioned rather than his presentations. To everyone’s surprise, he quickly proved himself superior to his master by correcting his drawing; Francesco Granacci, a fellow student, later gave Vasari the picture.
Lorenzo de’ Medici the Magnificent had Bertoldo, the sculptor and student of Donatello, in his garden at Piazza San Marco. There he founded a school and requested Ghirlandaio send him sculptors to train; he received Michelangelo and Granacci. Lorenzo was astonished by Michelangelo’s work on seeing the head of a faun, saying that older men do not have teeth, and Michelangelo removed a tooth with a sleight-of-hand.  On seeing this, Lorenzo was so amused; that he asked his father, Lodovico, if he could raise the boy as his own; Lodovico willingly granted the request. During his stay in the house of Lorenzo, one Agnolo Poliziano had Michelangelo execute a marble relief of Hercules and the Centaurs. Unfortunately, at that time, a jealous student named Pietro Torregiani broke his nose and scarred him for life. Michelangelo stayed in that house for four years until the death of Lorenzo in 1492.
At seventeen, Michelangelo returned to his father’s house and produced numerous sculptures. He carved a statue of Hercules, which stood in the dwelling of Strozzi. Later sent to King Francis of France. Piero de’ Medici, who succeeded his father, employed Michelangelo on lesser projects; one was a snow statue. Florence was unhappy with Piero, and Michelangelo, predicting his fall from grace, fled to Bologna, where he worked on the shrine of Domenico until the upcoming unrest settled in Florence.
When he returned to Florence, he finished his statue of David. According to Joachim von Sandrart, Pietro Soderini’s purchaser thought the nose was too large, and Michelangelo pleased him by reducing it. Soderini stated that it brought the statue to life. Michelangelo received four hundred scudi in payment, and Soderini erected the figure in 1504.
Pietro Soderini, a Gonfaloniere (holder of high communal office), commissioned him to do part of the Grand Hall of the Council with Leonardo da Vinci working on his opposite wall. He chose as his subject the Pisan war. He completed a giant cartoon called The Bathers, held in the highest esteem by artists who saw it. Along with the Pietà, the picture gained him so much fame that Pope Julius II summoned him to build his tomb. Placed in the church of Saint Peter in Rome, it took forty years to complete. The frescoes in the Grand Hall were unfinished.
It was 1508 when he began work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He preferred to work on it alone, which annoyed the Pope because of his impatience to have it done quickly. There were violent outbreaks of rage from the Pope over its time to complete. Julius II was known at times to smite him with his staff. He finished it circa 1516. Hailed as such an excellent artist, Michelangelo was, without fear of blasphemy, referred to as Il Divino Michelangelo, the Divine Michelangelo.
Upon completing the ceiling, he immediately started work on the tomb again; however, when Julius died, Pope Leo X became his new master, and the Pope sent him back to Florence to work for the Medici. He spent time on the façade of San Lorenzo, the church built by the house of Medici, completed after Pope Leo X’s death and Pope Clement VII’s accession.
The Medici family left Florence in 1527 during the sack of Rome under the Constable de Bourbon. The republicans installed Michelangelo as an engineer in charge of the city’s fortifications, and it was a position that put him in fear of the Medici, which made him flee to Venice. He stayed concealed in a friend’s house on his return to Florence. When Pope Clement VII, a Medici, was restored to power in Rome. Aware of Michelangelo’s talents, he granted him a pardon. However, he ordered him to resume work in the Medici Chapel in San Lorenzo in Florence, which he finished. He left Florence in the year of his father’s death, 1534, and stayed in Rome for the remainder of his life.
In 1536, Pope Paul III engaged him to paint The Last Judgment, which took five years to complete. When unveiled on Christmas Day in 1541, it narrowly escaped destruction, as it was loathed and loved. However, it did not avoid having its nude figures clothed after his death.
In 1546, The architect Antonio da San Gallo died, and the Pope ordered Michelangelo to take his place in the building of Saint Peter’s, despite Michelangelo’s protests. He had no respect for the crew left behind by San Gallo, which they resented and spent their time making his life as miserable as possible. The Pope eventually made him Chief Architect on all building projects. Popes Pius IV and V ensured his plans were never tampered with by the superintendents of the building, even after he died in 1564.
Michelangelo’s talents were well respected, and numerous dignitaries engaged him. Julius II, Leo X, Clement VII, Julius III, Paul IV, Pius IV, Suleiman, Emperor of the Turks, Francis Valois, King of France, Emperor Charles V, Signoria of Venice, and Duke Cosimo de’ Medici were but a few of his patrons.