The Story Behind these Michelangelo Prints

Michelangelo (1475-1564) is considered to be one of the greatest Renaissance artists throughout history. He was born in Caprese and had a rather troubled childhood, with his mother becoming sick and dying when he was only 6 years old. He then went on to live with a family of stone cutters which may have been where his love of sculpting began.

His heart lay with sculpting, having once famously said that ‘every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it’. His family had initially rejected art as a profession but when they understood his talent, his father supported him to find an apprenticeship when he was 14. He studied under the Medici’s, a very rich and powerful family in Florence. In 1496, he relocated to Rome where a cardinal in the Catholic Church commissioned him to create a statue, La Pieta, out of a single piece of marble stone. He then went on to sculpt the biblical Statue of David which took him 3 years and stands at 17 feet tall.

In 1505, Pope Julius gave him the huge honour of sculpting his future tomb, which Michelangelo was very enthusiastic about. Michelangelo fervently began work but Pope Julius then decided that he wanted him to paint the interior of the Sistine Chapel before the completion of his tomb. He refused to pay Michelangelo for any of his previous work until this painting had been finished. This vast painting took 4 years to accomplish and includes 343 figures depicting stories from the Bible. The Last Judgment is the altar painting which is a powerful portrayal of the Second Coming of Christ and God’s judgment in the afterlife.