Claim: Michelangelo painted scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni -LRB- -LSB- mikeˈlandʒelo di lodoˈviːko ˌbwɔnarˈrɔːti siˈmoːni -RSB- ; 6 March 1475 -- 18 February 1564 -RRB- was a Florentine sculptor , painter , architect , and poet of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art . Considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime , he has since been described as one of the greatest artists of all time . Despite making few forays beyond the arts , his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man , along with his rival and fellow Florentine Medici client , Leonardo da Vinci .   A number of Michelangelo 's works of painting , sculpture , and architecture rank among the most famous in existence . His output in every field of interest was prodigious ; given the sheer volume of surviving correspondence , sketches , and reminiscences taken into account , he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century .   He sculpted two of his best-known works , the Pietà and David , before the age of thirty . Despite holding a low opinion of painting , Michelangelo also created two of the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art : the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome , and The Last Judgment on its altar wall . As an architect , Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library . At the age of 74 , he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter 's Basilica . Michelangelo transformed the plan so that the western end was finished to his design , as was the dome , with some modification , after his death .   Michelangelo was unique as the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive . In fact , two biographies were published during his lifetime ; one of them , by Giorgio Vasari , proposed that he was the pinnacle of all artistic achievement since the beginning of the Renaissance , a viewpoint that continued to have currency in art history for centuries .   In his lifetime he was often called Il Divino -LRB- `` the divine one '' -RRB- . One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità , a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur . The attempts by subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo 's impassioned and highly personal style resulted in Mannerism , the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance .