From Birth to Becoming an Artist
The Early Half of his Most Memorable Works
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Around 1519 until 1534, Michelangelo was hired to create two Medici family tombs for the Medici Chapel in the Church of San Lorenzo..  Perhaps the most important of the two tombs was that of his friend Lorenzo de' Medici.  Depicted in the tomb is a seated figure of Lorenzo just beneath him lie figures representing Dusk and Dawn.  The other tomb was for Giuliano de’ Medici.  The two tombs represent opposites, Giuliano’s tomb is both active and extroverted, Lorenzo’s is contemplative and introspective.  Beneath Giuliano there are nudes symbolizing day and night, and beneath Lorenzo are nudes of dawn and dusk.  Prior to this, he did some architectural planning for Julius II tomb, but his first real endeavor as an architect was his façade for the Church of San Lorenzo.  Michelangelo was never trained as an architect, but at that time it wasn’t uncommon that the ability to draw and design was enough of a qualification for anyone. 

He also designed the Laurentian Library that adjoined to the Church of San Lorenzo which testified further to his great skill as an architect in his new forms for column capitals and tapered flattened pillars attached to walls going down instead of up. 

Laurentian Library 1524-1534

A little while after taking two years off between 1527 and1529 to defend the newly created republic of Florence, Michelangelo returned to the Sistine chapel in 1534.  This time he was ask to paint a scene of the last judgment above the alter to depict Christ’s second coming at the end of the world.  The work shows Christ striking down the damned and calling the blessed towards him.  His depictions of the saints were that of huge nudes and the view of Hell comes from Dante’s Inferno.   This is one of the most controversial works of Michelangelo's time.

The Last Judgment 1534-1541

In 1539, he began designing the Piazza del Campidoglio (Capitol), and the buildings that surrounded it.  His designs made this area the political heart of Rome once more.  He started with a new base that went underneath an old ancient bronze Roman statue of Marcus Aurelius the Emperor, riding a horse.  The base for this statue was of an oval design and became the basis for the style of the rest of the area.  The project branched off to include the addition of a double staircase that sat behind the statue, which also had identical styled buildings to the left and right of the statue.

Piazza del Campidoglio 1539

In 1546, one of his final tasks given to him was to design Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.  At first Pope Julius II gave Donato Bramante in 1506, Michelangelo’s rival.  Donato would have used a Greek cross in his construction, which has all four arms the same length.  However, Bramante died in 1514 and construction barely began on the structure, before Michelangelo came in, three other architects had contributed to the design.  His major accomplishment is the dome that sits on top of the Basilica, which became the inspiration for many of the United States' capital buildings.

Saint Peter's Basilica - 1546

At the age of 89, Michelangelo died in 1564.