MICHEL ANGELO BUONAROTTI, the greatest master of the arts of design who has appeared since the days of Phidias, was born in the castle of Caprese, in Tuscany, on the 6th of March 1474. His father, Ludovicodi Leonardo Buonarotti Simone, was a descendant of the noble and illustrious family of the counts of Canossa, and allied to the imperial blood. This circumstance had nearly occasioned the world the loss of the great artist; for when the strong bias of his mind became apparent, which occurred at a very early age, his father and uncles discouraged his pursuits, and treated him with harshness, conceiving that their family would be de [7:15:5]graded should a scion of their race adopt the profession of artist. But objection, prejudice, and even persecution, proved useless when opposed to devoted attachment and irresistible genius. Michel Angelo received the rudime*nts of his education at Florence, the nursing-mother of the arts, and here he enjoyed ample facilities of gratifying his taste for drawing. Ludovicofinding it hopeless to attempt to frustrate the intentions of nature, yielded at last to the advice of friends, and the wishes of his son, who was accordingly placed under Domenico Ghirlandaio, a distinguished professor of the arts of painting and design. The youth was articled to serve three years; but, contrary to custom, instead of paying, he received a premium, an indubitable proof of his great merits, even at the age of fourteen. The original document by which he was engaged bears date April 1488. His earliest effort in oils showed that he was born to grapple with difficulties from which other men shrink, whilst his success proved that he was also destined to overcome them. The subject was St Antony beaten by devils. In this little picture, besides the figure of the saint, there were crowded wild and grotesque forms and monsters, to which he was so intent upon giving an aspect of reality, that he painted no part without referring to some natural object. But painting did not engross the whole of his time and attention. The great patron of the arts at this period was Lorenzo de’ Medici, who, for the purpose of elevating sculpture to a level with painting, opened a garden in Florence, which he amply supplied with antique statues, bas-reliefs, busts, and the like. Thither the youth of the city repaired to study the classic creations of antiquity; and it is scarcely necessary to say that it became the favourite haunt of Michel Angelo.

From copying the drawings and paintings of others, his attention was turned to the modelling of figures in clay, in imitation of the monuments of ancient art; and the transition from this, the initiatory step in sculpture, to the mouldingofthe marble into symmetrical forms, was natural, and speedily withdrew his mind from every other study. The vigilant and practised eye of Lorenzo soon discovered the genius of the youthful sculptor in the execution of a mask representing a laughing faun. His father was sent for, and requested to resign Michel to the care of the family; and this being complied with, apartments were allotted to him in the ducal palace. Here he received every indulgence and attention, being treated with parental affection, and allowed to pursue the bent of his genius, not only without interruption, but cheered and encouraged by the cordial approbation of his munificent patron. Amongst the works which he executed under these favourable auspices, was a bas-relief representing the battle of the Centaurs; on viewing which at a future period of bis life, he lamented that he had not confined himself to a branch of art therein he had so soon attained such excellence. This is the strongest evidence which could be produced of the rare merits of the sculpture; for artists almost uniformly speak disparagingly of their early efforts.

On the death of Lorenzo, which happened about two years after he had entered his service, Michel Angelo, with a heavy heart, returned ’ to the paternal mansion. Nothing belonging to Lorenzo was inherited by his son Piero, except the territorial possessions of the family; and although the young artist continued to pursue his studies with unabated zeal, little patronage or encouragement was to be expected or obtained from a frivolous debauchee. The pusillanimity of this person soon distracted the councils of Florence; and Michel, to escape the storm which he saw impending over that city, retired to Bologna, but returned in about a year afterwards, when tranquillity had been restored. About this period there prevailed a sort of mania for the antique. Whilst the discoveries of antiquity created a new era in art and literature, the importance of which can never be too highly estimated, many ignorant individuals, smitten with the enthusiasm of the time, betrayed their want of judgment by the indiscriminate manner in which they lavished their praise on these remains; and Michel Angelo resolved to take advantage of the popular excitement. , He executed a Sleeping Cupid; and having stained the marble in such a way as to give it the appearance of a genuine antique, it was transmitted to a proper person in Rome, who, after burying it in his vineyard, dug it up, and then reported the discovery. The pardonable trick completely" succeeded for a time, and the statue was bought by a cardinal for a considerable sum; but of this Michel Angelo received only a small portion. Such deceptions, however, seldom remain long concealed; the officious zeal of friends, or the vanity of authorship, usually brings about the exposure of a successful imposition. After the mask was laid aside, and the real artist became known, he received a flattering invitation to visit Rome. Thither he accordingly repaired, and whilst there he executed a statue of Bacchus, another of a Cupid, and a group of the Virgin with a dead Christ reclining on her knees, together with a cartoon representing St Francis receiving the stigmata.

The celebrated gonfaloniere, Pietro Soderini, well known as a patron of genius, having been elected to guard the peace and protect the liberties of Florence, Michel Angelo returned to that cify. With the sanction of the new chief magistrate, he was allowed to appropriate to his use a huge block of marble, which had for many years lain neglected in Florence; and out of this he executed a gigantic statue of David, which gave great satisfaction. He also cast a figure in bronze, of the size of nature, and a group of David and Goliath; but, that his hand might not “lose its cunning” in the sister art, he painted a Holy Family. This picture is preserved in the Florence gallery; and it is the only painting in oil by Michel Angelo now remaining, the authenticity of which is not disputed. Having been commissioned to ornament the hall of the ducal palace with a cartoon, he chose for the subject an event connected with the war between the Florentines and Pisans. The work represents the Florentine soldiers, who, alarmed by an unexpected assault whilst bathing in the Arno, are getting out of the water with the utmost expedition, and preparing for action; and, although only outlined in charcoal, chalk, and the like, it was considered as the most extraordinary production which had appeared since the revival of the arts in Italy. In the mean time Julius II. having been raised to the pontifical throne, Michel Angelo was invited to the Vatican, whither he repaired without finishing the cartoon; but being disgusted with Rome, he returned to Florence, and completed the design. The painting of the picture itself, however, was never begun. Political events, and a second invitation from Julius II. again attracted him to the Eternal City, and he was employed by his holiness to construct a magnificent mausoleum, which, although immediately’ commenced, was interrupted during its progress, first on account of a misunderstanding between the artist and the pope, and afterwards from other causes. The artist repaired to Bologna, and political events having brought the pope to this city, a reconciliation took place. In a few days Julius II. ordered a colossal statue of himself to be executed in bronze, which Michel Angelo finished in sixteen months, and returned to Rome at the end of June 1508. He was, however, disappointed in his hopes of being allowed to proceed with his great architectural undertaking; for the pope had changed his mind, it is alleged through the jealousy of Bramante, and the artist was requested to decorate with pictures the ceiling and walls of the Sistine Chapel. But his primary disappointment was forgotten in his subsequent triumph. This stupendous work of genius excited the highest admiration, [7:15:6] which contemporary opinion and the judgment of after ages have confirmed; yet, from its commencement till its conclusion, only eighteen or twenty months elapsed.

After the death of Julius II. in 1513, the papal throne was filled by Leo X., whose magnificent reign forms an era in the intellectual history of modern times. Yet, strange as the fact may appear, the life of Michel Angelo during his pontificate is nearly an entire blank. He was employed ^extracting marble from a quarry which was wrought with difficulty, and in constructing a road over intricate swamps and through mountainous ridges, for the purpose of conveying it to the sea. Leo X. died in 1521, and under his successor Adrian VI., Michel Angelo employed himself upon the monument of Julius. The reign of Adrian was short, and on his death Clement VII. was raised to the papal throne. The confusion with which the civil affairs of Rome were soon overwhelmed, drove the artist to Florence, where he continued his architectural and other works for the chapel and library of S. Lorenzo, and executed a statue of Christ. His talents as an engineer were likewise put in requisition for the defence of the city. Before commencing the works, he visited Ferrara, then the best fortified town in Italy, and was received with the utmost courtesy by the Duke Alphonso, who showed him every part of the works, and ∙at the same time requested a specimen of the artist’s abilities either in sculpture or in painting. A picture of Jupiter and Lêda was the result; but this great production is generally supposed to have been lost. Michel Angelo was enabled to complete the fortifications of Florence before the siege of the city commenced; and, as in the case of Syracuse, the genius of one individual for a considerable time proved more than a match for thousands of armed men and the mightiest engines of war. By treachery the city passed into the hands of the enemy; but the great artist, although he had shown the dexterity of Archimedes in frustrating the designs of the besiegers, did not share the fate of the great geometrician. The finishing of two monuments for the Medici family was the price of his liberty.

Tranquillity being restored to Italy, Buonarotti returned to Rome; and although frequently interrupted, both by Clement VII. and by his successor Paul III., he at last completed the monument to Julius II. It consists of seven statues, amongst which is the celebrated one of Moses, a production evincing, in a higher degree than any of his other sculptures, that character of majesty and sublimity which more or less pervades them all. His next work was the painting of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, which was finished in 1541; and so great was the admiration excited by this mighty effort of genius, that many persons came from distant parts of Italy to see it. He subsequently painted the martyrdom of St Peter and the conversion of St Paul, which cost him great fatigue, as age was beginning to impair his physical energies. But that his intellectual powers still retained their pristine vigour, the church of St Peter’s, the most splendid monument of his genius and success as an architect, affords ample evidence. This fabric was begun by Julius II. in 1506, and, being successively intrusted to Bramante and Antonio de San Gallo, by this transference from hand to hand it was in danger of becoming a huge incongruity. On the death of the last-named architect in 1546, Michel Angelo was appointed architect; and, notwithstanding the jarring and complexity of the original designs, he succeeded in simplifying and harmonizing the whole. The work proceeded for a time with considerable rapidity. But he was occasionally withdrawn from it to other things, such as the building of bridges, the superintendence of which might have been safely intrusted to some inferior person. During the latter years of his life the papal chair was filled by several pontiffs, some of whom forwarded, and others retarded, his great undertaking, employing him in the construction of chapels and other buildings. Nor did he live to witness the completion of this splendid edifice, the greatest and most magnificent Christian temple on earth. He was carried off by a slow fever on the 17th of February 1563. His obsequies were celebrated as became the memory of so unrivalled a genius. Michel Angelo was of the middle stature, bony in his make, and rather spare, but broad over the shoulders. His complexion was good; his forehead was square, and somewhat projecting; his eyes were of a hazel colour, but rather small; and the general effect of his countenance was impaired by a blow which he had received in youth.

The character of Michel Angelo as an artist has already been delineated in this work by a masterly hand (see the article Arts, Fine). Grandeur of conception is the quality which distinguishes his works from those of all other artists who have appeared in modern times. Whether he excelled most in painting, in sculpture, or in architecture, it would not be easy to determine. He has left the noblest specimens of human genius in each department of art. He is the Milton of artists. Things beyom½ the visible diurnal sphere were within the range of his imagination; and when he stoops to earth, he invests nature with an ideal grandeur and majesty. His boys are men, his men are a race of giants; his demons are the evil spirits of Dante and Milton made visible: and his angels are the offspring of the sky. The Sistine Chapel is allowed to be the most finished work of art in the world; and its perfection is owing chiefly to Michel Angelo’s divine paintings. The whole wall behind the altar is covered by his picture of the Last Judgment; the vaulted ceiling represents the creation of the world, and around it are prophets and sibyls. In the sublime painting of the Last Judgment, terrible power is the predominating feature. The good and the bad, angels and devils, crowd the scene, and Christ is represented in the act of judging, or rather of condemning. His complete knowledge of anatomy, which he constantly studied, enabled him to represent in the most perfect manner the human figure in every possible attitude, and to express pain and despair through all their gradations. His other pictures exhibit the same daring sublimity of conception and power of execution. The church of St Peter’s at Rome μs the most splendid triumph of his architectural talents. His style in architecture is distinguished by grandeur and boldness; and, in his ornaments, the untamed character of his imagination is frequently apparent, in his preference of the uncommon to the simple and elegant. In sculpture, his statue of Moses is universally acknowledged to be the noblest monument of his genius, displaying, more than any other of his numerous works in this department of art, all the great qualities of his mind. Michel Angelo was like wise an author, and excelled both in verse and prose. His works have been printed in several collections; but they have also been published separately. (r. r. r.)