Michelangelo 1546
Part of the reason for my wanting to live in Florence is because of this guy, Michelangelo Buonarotti, who I consider the greatest artist that ever lived. The Sistine Chapel, David and St. Peter's church in Rome giving some strong reasons to back that claim up.Michelangelo was born in a small town in Tuscany called Caprese, but his family quickly moved into Florence and this is where he grew up.
Today I'm visiting 'Casa Buonarroti' a house he purchased when he was 71 years old. He never lived there and subsequently left it to his nephew Lionardo and the house was converted into a museum by his great nephew, Michelangelo the younger.
At the moment there is an exhibition of letters that he wrote to his dear friend Vittoria Colonna, so a good excuse for me to go and check out the museum...
The address is in one of Florence's most famous roads, Via Ghibelline. A road that Michelangelo would have travelled down as a young boy from his favourite hang out, with the stone masons in Settignano to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in town. Today one of Italy's most famed restaurants, Enoteca Pinchiorri (where I can be found most evenings!) is just across the road
Inside the house there are two floors with about a dozen rooms and the walls are brightly painted with some of the stories of Michelangelo's life. Many of his drawings are on display, as well as the special Vittoria Colonna letters. What I have especially come to see and am very excited about today are two of Michelangelo's earliest sculptures, that he always used to carry around with him when he moved house.
The Madonna of the steps
Michelangelo started his apprenticeship at only 13 years old, with one of the masters of the fresco style of painting, Ghirlandaio. His passion though, was for sculpting and he quickly transferred to Lorenzo di Medici's workshop where he had access to Lorenzo's antiques collection. In the first of his two creations, where we can see the influence of Donatello, is a bas relief marble of the Madonna feeding her child. Here the 16 year old Michelangelo skillfully displays not only great tecnique, but also great personal feeling and emotion in his work, mirroring the close relationship he had with his mother and loss he suffered at her death when he was only 7 years old..
The battle of the Centaurs
In the battle of the Centaurs, created just after The Madonna of the steps, so when Michelangelo was still 16 or 17 years old, we begin to see already the themes that would dominate his mind and life, the Torso. His master at the Medici sculpture garden, Bertoldo di Giovanni had created a bronze, called 'the battle of the horsemen' and Michelangelo was undoubtedly inspired by this piece. The writhing, naked male figures fascinated him and for someone to show such mastery at such a young age hinted at what was to come...
Casa Buonarroti also contains another gem , a wooden model of the facade for the church of San Lorenzo, which Poe Leo X gave the comission for Michelangelo to design when he was 43. That design was never carried out and the facade remains unfinished, even today. Personally I think it would be an inspired decision, if one day Michelangelo's project was fullfilled...
Here is a link to the Casa Buonarroti website: http://www.casabuonarroti.it/
Pieta
On the 24th of November we were in Rome on a flying visit, but I did get the chance to pop into St. Peter's to have a peep at this!!! One of Michelangelo's masterpieces, created when he was only 24 years old!!! Unfortunately it is behind a sheet of perspex, so you can't get a good close up look of it, and the lighting is really dim... come on Vatican sort yourselves out!
(Original journal entry 30/11/01)
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