Michelangelo Buonarrotti, although considered by many a Florentine, was actually born in Caprese, Italy in 1475. Michelangelo was an inspired artist of the Renaissance period. He and Leonardo DaVinci were considered to be the two greatest figures of this highly artistic movement. Michelangelo was a highly versatile artist and was involved in sculpting, architecture, painting, and even poetry. .At the age of 13, he was apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio, who at the time was painting a chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Here, the young Michelangelo learned the technique of fresco (painting on fresh plaster before it dries); He would use this technique many years later in his work in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. At the age of fifteen, Michelangelo began to spend time in the home and in the gardens of Lorenzo de' Medici, where he studied sculpture under Bertoldo di Giovanni. It was during this time that he completed the Madonna of the Stairs and the Battle of the Centaurs. The political climate in Florence following the death of Lorenzo de' Medici may have led Michelangelo to leave the city, going first to Bologna and, after a brief return to Florence, to Rome. In Rome, he carved the Bacchus and then the Piet which is in St. Peter's basilica in Rome. Michelangelo returned to Florence where he began work on the David. Called the "Giant" by his fellow Florentines, this statue was completed in 1504. Later that year, Michelangelo was commissioned to undertake a fresco of the Battle of the Cascina, a work that was unfortunately later destroyed. During this same time period, Michelangelo produced several Madonnas; including the painting the Holy Family (also known as the Doni Madonna), a statue of the Madonna and Child (called the Bruges Madonna) which was purchased by a Flemish merchant and is now in Bruges, and two marble reliefs, the Taddei tondo and the Pitti tondo. Michelangelo was called to Rome by Pope Julius I...
