Michelangelo Sculptures

Michelangelo Buonarroti is without doubt the most revered sculptor of the Renaissance period and despite his fresco work in The Sistine Chapel, he always considered himself to be a sculptor rather than a painter. He was raised in Florence but had lived with a stonecutter and his wife during his mothers long illness, and also for some time after her death. This early introduction to the stonecutters trade fed Michelangelo’s interest in sculpture and he studied at the school of Lorenzo de’ Medici under the guidance of Bertoldo di Giovanni. Michelangelo lived in the household of his patron Lorenzo de’ Medici for four years until Lorenzo’s death in 1492. While at the Medici school he would often criticize the work of students less skilful than himself. One story relates to the apprentice Pietro Torrigiano, who became so enraged by the remarks of his fellow student, that he punched him in the face breaking his nose. Later Torrigiano recalled: “I gave him so violent a blow upon the nose that I fel