Michelangelo Buounarroti was the son of Ludovico, born in Caprese on March 6, 1475. His mother died when he was only six years old; apprenticed at the age of 13 to the Florentine studio of Ghirlandaio, he remained in this position for three years, coming to the attention of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the Medici scion, whose patronage was instrumental in introducing Michelangelo to Pico della Mirandola and the sculptor, Bertoldo, a disciple of Donatello ("Style and Art" 1). Through his association with the Medici, Michelangelo was also introduced to the papal Court and found favor with many prominent churchmen (Labella, 144 0 135). As a Florentine, he was extremely proud of his heritage and his ancestral nobility, though he was born to the bourgeois; he was devout in his religion, cognizant of the place of the secular and the profane in man's world, and deeply attracted to the classical styles of rediscovered antique sculpture ("Style and Art" 2 -3)
The commission for the Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes, like others, was received from Pope Julius II. This pope was a major patron of the artist, with whom Michelangelo had a "tormented relationship" (Popham 3). As an artist, Michelangelo preferred to work in marble as a sculptor; he is said to have been reluctant in the extreme to undertake the Sistine project (Janson 453-454).
The Sistine Chapel ceiling, the focus of Michelangelo's initial 12 figures which were greatly expanded to include the entire ceiling and more than 300 individual figures, was the natural context of the work (Popham 2). The work took place over a 24-year period from start to finish. In 1536, "he was at work on The Last Judgment, the Day of Wrath, which occupies the whole of the wall behind the altar" (Popham 4).
The Sistine Chapel had been painted earlier with illustrations of the life of Christ and Moses by Perugino, Boticelli, and Ghirlandaio. Pope Julius
...