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Marcello Venusti, Portrait of Michelangelo, after 1535

Leone Leoni, Portrait Medal of Michelangelo, 1561

Psalms 51: 13: “Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee. ”

MYTHS ABOUT MICHELANGELO (largely invented by the artist himself) 1. Michelangelo was largely self-taught and owed very little to the artistic example of others.

Domenico Ghirlandaio, Tornabuoni Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Michelangelo, Studies of Three Nudes, 1531 -32

Michelangelo, Head of Leda, 1529 -30

Bernardo della Volpaia, Studies of Ancient Monuments, Codex Coner, c. 1510 -15 Michelangelo, Studies after the Codex Coner, c. 1515

Studies of Roman monuments, c. 1515

Michelangelo, Sacrifice of Isaac, c. 1535 Filippo Brunelleschi, Sacrifice of Isaac, 1401

MYTHS ABOUT MICHELANGELO 1. Michelangelo was largely self-taught and owed very little to the artistic example of others. 2. Michelangelo’s ideas came to him fully formed.

“Not even the best of artists has any conception that a single marble block does not contain within its excess, and that is only attained by the hand that obeys the intellect. ” Michelangelo, Sonnet 151, c. 1538 -41

Michelangelo, Sacrifice of Isaac, c. 1535

Study for a Christ in Limbo, c. 1530 --3

Michelangelo, Studies for a cornice and for nudes for the Sistine Ceiling, 1508 -9

MYTHS ABOUT MICHELANGELO 1. Michelangelo was largely self-taught and owed very little to the artistic example of others. 2. Michelangelo’s ideas came to him fully formed. 3. Michelangelo painted the Sistine Ceiling laying on his back.

“I’ve grown a goiter at this work, like the cats of Lombardy…”

MYTHS ABOUT MICHELANGELO 1. Michelangelo was largely self-taught and owed very little to the artistic example of others. 2. Michelangelo’s ideas came to him fully formed. 3. Michelangelo painted the Sistine Ceiling laying on his back. 4. Michelangelo was a melancholic who did not have much of a sense of humor.

“You have a face sweeter than boiled grape juice, and a snail seems to have passed across it, it shines so much, and it is more beautiful than a turnip. ” Michelangelo, Sonnet 20, c. 1523

MYTHS ABOUT MICHELANGELO 1. Michelangelo was largely self-taught and owed very little to the artistic example of others. 2. Michelangelo was the ultimate solitary genius, who largely worked alone. 3. Michelangelo painted the Sistine Ceiling laying on his back. 4. Michelangelo was a melancholic who did not have much of a sense of humor. 5. Michelangelo did not appreciate female beauty.

Michelangelo, Head of Leda, c. 1529 -30

Contract for the Vatican Pieta, 1498

Michelangelo, Head of Leda, c. 1529 -30

“If by a happy heart the face is made beautiful and by a sad one ugly…” “…it would be good for both to paint her with a happy heart and a dry face: it would make her beautiful and me not ugly. ” “Of divine things one speaks on a blue field” Michelangelo, Se dal cor lieto divien bello il volto, c. 1544

MYTHS ABOUT MICHELANGELO 1. Michelangelo was largely self-taught and owed very little to the artistic example of others. 2. Michelangelo was the ultimate solitary genius, who largely worked alone. 3. Michelangelo painted the Sistine Ceiling laying on his back. 4. Michelangelo was a melancholic who did not have much of a sense of humor. 5. Michelangelo did not appreciate female beauty. 6. Michelangelo was the ultimate solitary genius, who largely worked alone.

Michelangelo, Sketches of blocks of marble for the tomb of Julius II, c. 1516

Michelangelo, Sketches of blocks of marble for the tomb of Julius II, c. 1516

‘Master Andrea, those men whom I have not called to work and whom you have not called either, will not be paid for the day’s work. ’ Notice to Master Andrea, 1524

Plan for San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, 1559 -60

MYTHS ABOUT MICHELANGELO 1. Michelangelo was largely self-taught and owed very little to the artistic example of others. 2. Michelangelo was the ultimate solitary genius, who largely worked alone. 3. Michelangelo painted the Sistine Ceiling laying on his back. 4. Michelangelo was a melancholic who did not have much of a sense of humor. 5. Michelangelo did not appreciate female beauty. 6. Michelangelo was the ultimate solitary genius, who largely worked alone. 7. Michelangelo was a poor man, often underpaid for his

Michelangelo, Study of a Gate (Porta Pia? ), 1561

Marcello Venusti, Portrait of Michelangelo, after 1535

http: //michelangelo. syr. edu