Of all the subjects we covered this semester in history, I found Rome to be the most interesting. I think it has the most influential architecture of any other concentrated areas. It is a place where you can just become immersed in beauty all around you.
One person who I became interested in the most when going through Rome was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. He is widely known as just Michelangelo. This was an astounding man with incredible gifts and talents. He is probably known best for being an Italian Renaissance painter but he was also a sculptor, an architect, and an engineer.
At the age of 24, not much older than I am now, he created La Pieta, a sculpture of Jesus layed out in Mary’s arms after the crucifixion. And then before he turned 30 he created the statue of David which is one of the most renowned works of the Renaissance.
Michelangelo also created two of the most influential works in fresco in the history of western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling and The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
And if it wasn’t enough to be a world renowned sculptor, painter, and engineer, he was also an architect. Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library. At 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo as the architect of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Michelangelo was so influential in many different types of arts and it is astounding how young he started creating and how he continued creating masterpieces into his old age.
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