Michelangelo’s Life in Florence

Michelangelo is not only considered one of the premiere artists of the Renaissance but one of the greatest artists to ever have lived. His works across a variety of mediums, especially his sculpture, are some of the most popularly visited pieces in Italy. Before you go see his David, take a moment to appreciate how the time Michelangelo spent in Florence impacted his greatest works.

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How Florence Impacted Michelangelo’s Greatest Works

The time Michelangelo spent in Florence helped to nurture his passion, skills, and career in art. From his childhood circumstances to his education and the patrons of his work, Florence is an important element of Michelangelo’s life. Here’s how his time in the Renaissance city impacted his greatest works.

An Unhappy Childhood

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was born on 6 March 1475 in the Tuscan village of Caprese. Born to a family of bankers, he seemed likely to enjoy a privileged upbringing. However, his parents could hardly have predicted that their son would go on to enjoy a celebrated artistic career.

This all changed, however, when Michelangelo’s mother took ill and died of a prolonged illness. This forced Michelangelo to live away from his father with a nanny and her husband in a town near Florence. Suddenly, at six years old, Michelangelo had no one around him to call family.

Young Up-Start: Michelangelo in Florence

As luck would have it, that nanny’s husband was a stonecutter who worked just out of town. Sometimes, he would bring Michelangelo along to watch the quarrying of limestone, granite, and marble. And it was by this strange twist of fate that Michelangelo first fell in love with stone.

To be an artist, Michelangelo could not have been in a better place at a better time. Florence saw an explosion of art and culture. He would have seen many great works in Florence including Ghiberti’s Baptistery Doors and Brunelleschi’s Dome, which are still some of the top things to see in Florence today.

Michelangelo’s father eventually gave in to his son’s passion and apprenticed him to the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio. Michelangelo learned quickly, completing his three-year apprenticeship in one year. His work soon caught the eye and patronage of the powerful Lorenzo de Medici.

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Michelangelo Working in Florence

For two years, Michelangelo lived in the palace of the Medici. There, he studied the greatest artworks of his day. It was the perfect education for the creation of a master artist. The Medici family ran a humanist university, teaching their students the recovered philosophy of the great ancient Greek philosophers. This education would lend Michelangelo’s work its deeply humanistic themes, which celebrate the natural beauty and grandeur of the human body. 

Some of his classmates would become great artists in their own right including Francesco Granacci and Pietro Torrigiano. The latter, known for his violent temper, once struck a young Michelangelo in the face after a dispute. Michelangelo would carry slight scarring on his nose for the rest of his life.

In Florence, Michelangelo sculpted works that betrayed the mastery he would attain later in his career. These include two stone reliefs: Madonna of the Steps (1490-92) and Battle of the Centaurs (1491-92). The Battle of the Centaurs in particular shows Michelangelo’s early mastery of the human form, depicting a swirling mass of wrestling figures. 

Michelangelo’s Fortune Changes

Michelangelo’s apprenticeship came to an abrupt halt when Lorenzo de Medici died in April 1492. He temporarily had to move out of the city and back to his hometown, where he sculpted for the local church. He was, however, able to return to Florence to sculpt a figure for Piero de Medici, heir to the Medici fortune. 

This turn in luck would, however, prove to be short-lived. Only a few months after his return to Florence, the Medici were removed from power in a coup led by the preacher Savanarola. The preacher’s fundamentalist rhetoric opposed what he considered the artistic excess of the Medici family. 

It was no place for an artist of Michelangelo’s caliber. So, he moved to Venice and then to Bologna. It would be several more years before he crafted his great masterpieces, the statue of David and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling.

This time in Florence, however, was certainly a foundational period in the life of the young artist. Without the patronage of the Medici family, we might never have seen these great works of art come to fruition. 

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