page_title: Michelangelo
section_title: Rome
hierarchical_section_title: Michelangelo / Biography / Working for the Medici / Rome
caption_attribution_description: English: Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Français&#160;: La Pietà de Michel-Ange située dans la Basilique Saint-Pierre, au Vatican. (Cropped and cleaned version of Image:Michelangelo's Pieta 5450.jpg)
context_page_description: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer. Along with Leonardo da Vinci, he is often called a "Renaissance Man" which means that he had great talent in many areas.
  Michelangelo lived an extremely busy life, creating a great number of artworks. Some of Michelangelo's works are among the most famous that have ever been made. They include two very famous marble statues, the Pieta in Saint Peter's Basilica and David which once stood in a plazza in Florence but is now in the Accademia Gallery. His most famous paintings are huge frescos, the Sistine Chapel Ceiling and the Last Judgement. His most famous work of architecture is the east end and dome of Saint Peter's Basilica.
  A lot is known about Michelangelo's life because he left many letters, poems and journals. Because he was so famous, he became the very first artist to have his biography published while he was still living. His biographer, Giorgio Vasari, said that he was the greatest artist of the Renaissance. He was sometimes called Il Divino.
  Other artists said that he had terribilità.
context_section_description: Michelangelo arrived in Rome 25 June 1496 at the age of 21.  He lived near the Church of Santa Maria di Loreto on the Gianicolo hill.
  In 1496 he got an important “commission” (he was given a paid job) from Cardinal Raffaele Riario. The Cardinal wanted Michelangelo to make a marble statue, larger than life-size,  of Bacchus, the Ancient Roman God of wine. Michelangelo worked hard at the statue. He carved Bacchus as a young man who was quite drunk and looked as if he was staggering as he raised his cup to make a toast. The cardinal did not like the drunken Bacchus and would not pay for it. A banker called Jacopo Galli bought it for his garden.
  Michelangelo’s next important commission was from the French Ambassador who asked him to make a statue of the Virgin Mary mourning over the dead body of her son Jesus. This type of artwork, either a painting or a statue, is called by the Italian name “Pieta” (say: “Pe-ay-ta”). Michelangelo’s Pieta is the most famous Pieta that has ever been made. It is now in Saint Peter's Basilica and is visited by thousands of people every day. Giorgio Vasari  wrote: "It is a miracle that a shapeless block of stone could have been carved away to make something so perfect that even nature could hardly have made it better, using real human flesh."
caption: The Pieta shows the Virgin Mary with the body of Jesus in her lap after the Crucifixion.
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