Michelangelo's Birthday
Next: March 6, 2027
Sculptor, painter, architect, poet.
The story
Where it comes from
Michelangelo Buonarroti was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese, near Florence, where his father was the local magistrate, and this Story marks his birthday. Apprenticed as a boy to the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, he lived for a time in the household of Lorenzo de' Medici. In his twenties he carved the Pietà, now in St Peter's Basilica, and the David, now in Florence. Between 1508 and 1512 he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and from then on he was regarded as Italy's greatest living artist.
How it's celebrated
There is no formal observance, but his work draws visitors every day of the year: the David at the Accademia in Florence, the Pietà in St Peter's and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museums. For the rest of us it is a fine day to look closely at a single work of art, or to pick up a pencil and draw a hand.
Did you know
- Although the Sistine Chapel ceiling is his best-known work, Michelangelo thought of himself first of all as a sculptor.
- The Pietà is the only work he ever signed, on a band across the Virgin's chest.
- He was also a poet and an architect, and worked on the great church of St Peter's in Rome in his later years.
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