Entered the Medici sculpture school at 13, had his nose broken by Torrigiano at 15, finished the Pietà at 24, began the David at 26. At 33 Pope Julius II forced him onto his back for four years to paint the Sistine ceiling — he protested, "I am a sculptor, not a painter." At 61 he painted the Last Judgment and put himself in it as a flayed skin; at 71 he took charge of St. Peter's dome; at 80 he was still hammering at a Pietà. Never married. At 57 he fell in love with the 23-year-old Cavalieri and wrote him hundreds of sonnets. He died at 88 — the dome of St. Peter's, completed 26 years later, became the ancestor of every great Western dome.
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1470 – 1498 · 5 條事件1470 – 1498 · 5 events
1475 年culture
出生 Caprese·父親是地方官Born in Caprese — Father a Local Magistrate
Born March 6 in the Tuscan hill town of Caprese. His father Lodovico Buonarroti was a minor magistrate of modest noble lineage. His mother died early; Michelangelo was raised by a family of stonecutters in Settignano. He later joked: "With my mother's milk I sucked in the hammer and chisels — no wonder my gift is in stone."
From a Florentine sculpture apprentice to architect of St. Peter's Basilica, his life spanned the Renaissance into the Counter-Reformation. Master in sculpture, painting, architecture, and poetry: at 24 the Pietà, at 26-29 the David, at 33-37 the Sistine ceiling, at 61-66 the Last Judgment, at 71 took charge of St. Peter's dome, dead at 88. Never married, exchanged love poems with the young nobleman Tommaso Cavalieri.
13 歲入 Medici 雕塑學校At 13, Enters the Medici Sculpture School
圖：Template:Unknown Weaver, Italian (active 1570s in Florence) · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsImage: Template:Unknown Weaver, Italian (active 1570s in Florence) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
13 歲不顧父親反對拜入 Ghirlandaio 畫坊。半年後被 Lorenzo de' Medici (偉人) 看中，召入 Medici 宮廷的雕塑學校。在此 4 年研究古代雕塑、與 Lorenzo 之子 (後 Pope Leo X)、Pico della Mirandola、新柏拉圖學派人文學者同桌——文藝復興最高層教育。
At 13, against his father's wishes, apprenticed in the workshop of Ghirlandaio. Six months later Lorenzo "the Magnificent" de' Medici noticed him and brought him into the Medici sculpture school. For four years he studied antique sculpture and dined with Lorenzo's sons (one would become Pope Leo X), Pico della Mirandola, and the Neo-Platonist humanists — the highest table of the Renaissance.
15 歲在 Medici 學校嘲笑同學 Pietro Torrigiano 畫不好，被一拳打斷鼻樑——終身扁鼻。日後所有米開朗基羅自畫像皆顯示這扁鼻。Torrigiano 流亡到英國、為亨利七世造陵墓。米開朗基羅從此性格更內向陰沉。
At 15, at the Medici school, he mocked his fellow student Pietro Torrigiano's drawing — and was punched so hard his nose was broken for life. Every Michelangelo self-portrait shows that flattened nose. Torrigiano fled to England and built Henry VII's tomb. Michelangelo grew darker and more withdrawn.
Lorenzo 1492 年死、Savonarola 1494 領佛羅倫斯起義驅 Medici。米開朗基羅作為前 Medici 寵兒立刻流亡 Bologna 與威尼斯。1495 偷返佛羅倫斯，造一尊古代風格的 Cupid，Cardinal Riario 上當把它當古董買去——米開朗基羅後來被找到、獲邀去羅馬修古玩。
Lorenzo died in 1492; Savonarola led the Florentine revolt that drove out the Medici in 1494. Michelangelo, a former Medici protégé, immediately fled to Bologna and Venice. He sneaked back to Florence in 1495 and carved a Cupid in antique style; Cardinal Riario in Rome was tricked into buying it as a genuine ancient — when the truth came out, Michelangelo was invited to Rome to repair old pieces.
在羅馬接 French Cardinal de Bilhères 委託，24 歲完成《聖殤》——聖母懷抱基督屍體。當時懷疑是別人作品，米開朗基羅夜裡溜進聖彼得在聖母腰帶上刻：「Michelangelus Bonarotus Florentinus Faciebat」(佛羅倫斯人米開朗基羅作)。是他唯一一次署名作品——日後悔之，從不再簽。今藏聖彼得大教堂。
Commissioned by the French Cardinal Jean de Bilhères, completed at 24: the Virgin holding the dead Christ. When viewers attributed it to a more famous sculptor, Michelangelo at night slipped into St. Peter's and carved on the Virgin's sash: "Michelangelus Bonarotus Florentinus Faciebat" — "Michelangelo of Florence made this." His only signed work — he regretted it and never signed another. Still in St. Peter's today.
Commissioned by the Florence Cathedral, Michelangelo carved David from a 5.5-ton block of marble that had sat untouched for 40 years (others had given up on it). 5.17 meters tall, four years to finish — David in the tense moment before throwing the stone. When unveiled, arguments raged over where to put it; it was placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio facing Rome — symbolizing "the small republic against the great power."
On September 8, Michelangelo carved 'David' from a 5-meter marble slab abandoned for 40 years. Placed before Palazzo Vecchio (now in Galleria dell'Accademia), it symbolized republican Florence facing its Goliaths — the pinnacle of Renaissance sculpture.
與達文西同壁畫競賽·雙未完Wall-Painting Duel with Leonardo — Both Unfinished
圖：Bastiano da Sangallo / After Michelangelo · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsImage: Bastiano da Sangallo / After Michelangelo · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
佛羅倫斯市政廳委託：達文西畫《Anghiari 戰役》、米開朗基羅同時畫《Cascina 戰役》於同一房間對牆。兩位文藝復興最高峰首度正面對決。米開朗基羅僅完成草稿 (年輕士兵裸體沐浴、聞警急穿衣)、被 Pope 召羅馬畫西斯汀。雙雙未完成。草稿後被學徒臨摹、原稿失傳。
The Florentine Signoria commissioned Leonardo to paint The Battle of Anghiari and Michelangelo to paint The Battle of Cascina on opposite walls of the same hall. The two giants of the Renaissance, head to head. Michelangelo finished only the cartoon (nude young soldiers bathing when an alarm sounds, scrambling for clothes); then Pope Julius II called him to Rome for the Sistine ceiling. Both works went unfinished; copies survive of Michelangelo's cartoon, the original lost.
教宗 Julius II 1505 委託他造陵，原計畫含 40 件超大雕像、放在新聖彼得大教堂中央。但 Pope 反覆變心、改派他畫西斯汀、又因錢中斷。米開朗基羅與多任教宗反覆協商 40 年，最終縮水版 1545 才在 San Pietro in Vincoli 完成——只剩中央 Moses 與兩側 Leah/Rachel 三尊。米開朗基羅自稱「人生的悲劇」。
Pope Julius II commissioned the tomb in 1505 — originally planned with 40 enormous sculptures at the center of the new St. Peter's. But the Pope kept changing his mind, diverted Michelangelo to the Sistine ceiling, then ran out of money. Michelangelo negotiated with successive popes for 40 years; a much-reduced version was finally finished in 1545 at San Pietro in Vincoli — just Moses at the center flanked by Leah and Rachel. He called it "the tragedy of my life."
33 歲被 Pope Julius II 強迫接下西斯汀天頂訂單。米開朗基羅抗議：「我是雕塑家不是畫家。」原計畫 12 使徒，他自行擴大為《創世紀》九大幕——40 米長、343 人物、4 年完成。仰躺鷹架繪畫致頸椎、視力受損，他寫詩自嘲：「我長像 Lombardy 醃肉柄，鬍子向天、頸推到背。」1512.10.31 揭幕，世界震驚。
At 33, Pope Julius II forced him to accept the Sistine ceiling commission. Michelangelo protested: "I am a sculptor, not a painter." The plan was for 12 apostles; he expanded it himself into the nine-scene Genesis — 40 meters long, 343 figures, four years. Painting on his back ruined his neck and eyesight; he wrote a sonnet mocking himself: "My beard turns up to heaven, my neck I bend... I look like a Lombardy cured ham on a pole." Unveiled October 31, 1512 — the world was stunned.
西斯汀天頂中央場景。上帝伸右手指向亞當伸出的左手，兩指間僅一吋距離——這個「即將碰觸但未碰」的瞬間成為西方藝術最知名的圖像。背後上帝披風形似人腦解剖切面 (1990 醫師 Frank Meshberger 提出)，學界爭議是否米開朗基羅有意——他確實偷解剖過屍體。
The central scene of the Sistine ceiling. God extends his right index finger toward Adam's outstretched left — the two fingers an inch apart, never quite touching. This "about to touch but not" moment became the most iconic image in Western art. The shape behind God resembles a cross-section of the human brain (proposed by physician Frank Meshberger in 1990); scholars debate whether Michelangelo did this knowingly — he did dissect cadavers in secret.
On October 31, Michelangelo completed four years of work (1508-1512) on the Sistine Chapel ceiling — nine Genesis scenes including 'The Creation of Adam,' commissioned by Pope Julius II. He returned to paint 'The Last Judgment' on the altar wall in 1535-41.
Julius II 陵墓中央雕像，1.4 倍真人尺寸。摩西額頭上有兩個角——源自拉丁聖經 Vulgate 翻譯誤譯：希伯來文「光輝」(qaran) 被誤讀為「角」(qeren)。米開朗基羅照當時通行版本雕。傳說他完成後拿錘子敲膝蓋說：「Perché non parli? (你為何不說話？)」。今在 San Pietro in Vincoli。
The central figure of Julius II's tomb, 1.4 times life-size. Moses has two horns on his forehead — from a famous mistranslation in the Latin Vulgate Bible: the Hebrew word qaran ("radiant") was misread as qeren ("horn"). Michelangelo followed the standard text of his day. Legend says when he finished he struck the knee with a hammer and shouted: "Perché non parli?" — "Why don't you speak?" Today in San Pietro in Vincoli.
接 Pope Leo X (Medici) 委託，在佛羅倫斯 San Lorenzo 教堂建 Medici 家族陵墓。包括兩位 Medici 公爵雕像，下方一對對寓意像——Day/Night、Dawn/Dusk。Night 是男性化裸女、Day 是未磨光的粗糙——表達死亡與時間的悲愴。1527 米開朗基羅參加佛羅倫斯共和國抗 Medici 運動，後被 Pope 寬恕回去繼續做 Medici 陵。
Commissioned by Pope Leo X (a Medici), to build the family tombs in Florence's San Lorenzo basilica. Two Medici dukes stand above pairs of allegorical figures — Day/Night, Dawn/Dusk. Night is a muscular nude woman; Day is left rough-cut — expressing the sorrow of death and time. In 1527 Michelangelo joined the Florentine Republican uprising against the Medici; the Pope later pardoned him and he returned to finish their tombs.
愛上 Tommaso Cavalieri·百首情詩Falls for Tommaso Cavalieri — Hundreds of Love Sonnets
圖：unknown, possibly Daniele da Volterra or Michelangelo · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsImage: unknown, possibly Daniele da Volterra or Michelangelo · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
At 57 in Rome he met the 23-year-old nobleman Tommaso de' Cavalieri and fell deeply in love. The lifelong-unmarried Michelangelo wrote him hundreds of sonnets and made him oversized chalk drawings. Cavalieri replied politely but kept distance. When his love poems were first published in the 19th century, the editor changed every male pronoun to female; only in the 1900s were they restored.
61 歲應 Pope Paul III 委託，在西斯汀禮拜堂祭壇牆畫《最後的審判》——20 米高、5 年完成、390 人物。基督在中央以宙斯式裸體現身、聖人圍繞、地獄拖人下沉。劃時代的反宗教改革宣言。米把自己畫成被聖巴托羅謬手中提的「剝下的人皮」——無聲的自畫像。
At 61, commissioned by Pope Paul III, he painted the Last Judgment on the Sistine altar wall — 20 meters high, five years to finish, 390 figures. Christ stands center, naked in Zeus-like power, surrounded by saints; the damned are dragged into hell. A landmark Counter-Reformation statement. Michelangelo painted himself as the flayed skin held by Saint Bartholomew — a silent, anguished self-portrait.
63 歲在羅馬與寡婦詩人 Vittoria Colonna (40 多歲) 結為靈性密友。9 年間互寫信、論宗教、互改詩。Vittoria 1547 死時，米開朗基羅在床邊只敢吻她的手。寫詩：「天使從她臉上學優雅、上帝從她身上學一切美。」是他成年後最深的情感連結。
At 63 in Rome he formed a deep spiritual friendship with the widowed poet Vittoria Colonna (in her 40s). For nine years they exchanged letters, discussed religion, and edited each other's poems. When she died in 1547, Michelangelo at her bedside could only bring himself to kiss her hand — he later regretted not kissing her face. He wrote: "From her face the angels learn grace; from her body, God all beauty." His deepest adult emotional bond.
前建築師 Antonio da Sangallo 死後，Pope Paul III 任命 71 歲的米開朗基羅為聖彼得大教堂首席建築師。米拒絕薪水、視為「為靈魂救贖而做」。設計新圓頂——直徑 42 米，比 Brunelleschi 的佛羅倫斯圓頂大、影響後世美國國會山莊與華盛頓特區所有大圓頂設計。
After the death of the previous architect Antonio da Sangallo, Pope Paul III named the 71-year-old Michelangelo chief architect of St. Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo refused payment, calling it "for the salvation of my soul." He designed the new dome — 42 meters in diameter, larger than Brunelleschi's Florence dome — influencing every later great dome including the US Capitol.
Begun at 80, his last sculpture — the Florence Pietà, intended for his own tomb. The old man supporting Christ's body, Nicodemus, is Michelangelo's self-portrait (turban, broken nose). In 1555, dissatisfied, he smashed Christ's left leg with a hammer; a student reassembled the pieces. Now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence. He was still working on a yet later Rondanini Pietà (1564) when he died — unfinished.
2 月 18 日死於羅馬寓所，88 歲。臨終遺言：「靈魂歸天父、肉體歸土地、財物歸親人。」(Anima a Dio, Corpo alla Terra, Roba ai Parenti.)。最後一週還在工作 Rondanini Pietà。死後遺體被姪子偷運回佛羅倫斯，葬聖十字教堂——與 Galileo、Machiavelli 同葬。
Died February 18 in his Rome home at 88. His last words: "My soul to God, my body to the earth, my possessions to my relatives" (Anima a Dio, Corpo alla Terra, Roba ai Parenti). He had been working on the Rondanini Pietà the week he died. His nephew secretly smuggled the body back to Florence; he is buried in Santa Croce — beside Galileo and Machiavelli.
反宗教改革 Trent 大公會議認為《最後的審判》裸體不雅。米開朗基羅死次年，學徒 Daniele da Volterra 被命給最暴露人物加上丁字褲——後世戲稱他 Il Braghettone「製褲匠」。後世清洗時部分丁字褲被移除、部分保留。今日所見是混合版。
The Council of Trent ruled the Last Judgment's nudity indecent. The year after Michelangelo died, his pupil Daniele da Volterra was ordered to add loincloths to the most exposed figures — earning him the mocking nickname "Il Braghettone" ("the Breeches-Maker"). Later cleanings removed some loincloths and left others; today's wall is a mixed version.
米開朗基羅 1564 死時聖彼得圓頂只完成到鼓座 (drum)。Giacomo della Porta 與 Domenico Fontana 依米的設計圖完成，1590 年 12 月 14 日封頂。圓頂 119 米高，基本忠於米的原設計。為西方所有大圓頂建築 (倫敦聖保羅、巴黎萬神殿、華盛頓國會山莊) 的祖型。
When Michelangelo died in 1564, the dome of St. Peter's was only finished to the drum. Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana completed it from his designs, capping it on December 14, 1590. 119 meters tall, faithful in essence to Michelangelo's plan. The ancestor of every later great dome — St. Paul's London, the Panthéon Paris, the US Capitol.
1972 Pietà 被瘋漢錘擊·15 下毀容1972 — Madman Attacks Pietà with a Hammer, 15 Blows
圖：Fonte Umberto Baldini, Michelangelo scultore, Rizzoli, Milano 1973 Data 1972 Aut · Public domain · Wikimedia CommonsImage: Fonte Umberto Baldini, Michelangelo scultore, Rizzoli, Milano 1973 Data 1972 Aut · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
On May 21, 1972 (Pentecost), a 33-year-old Hungarian-Australian geologist named László Toth charged the Pietà in St. Peter's shouting "I am Jesus Christ!" He struck it 15 times with a geological hammer. The Virgin's left arm broke off, her nose, eyelid, and veil shattered. Three years of restoration followed; the work is now protected behind bulletproof glass.
500 years of candle soot, dust, and mold had darkened the ceiling and the Last Judgment to obscurity. A 19-year cleaning campaign sponsored by Japan's NTV revealed the originally bright pink, orange, and azure palette — a stunning revelation. But some art historians charged the cleaning also stripped Michelangelo's final dark glazes, leaving "bare underpainting." The controversy is still unresolved.
