Michelangelo Buonarroti

Born in Caprese in 1475 and raised in the Florentine world that helped define the Renaissance, Michelangelo trained young and quickly earned a reputation for unusual skill in sculpture. Even early works showed the force, anatomy, and emotional intensity that would become his signature.

Over a long career, he created some of the best-known works in art history. As a sculptor, he made the Pietà and David; as a painter, he transformed the Sistine Chapel ceiling and later painted The Last Judgment; and as an architect, he played a major role in the design of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. He was also a poet, and his writing adds another side to a figure often remembered mainly for monumental art.

Michelangelo died in Rome in 1564, but his influence never really faded. Later artists looked to him for his command of the human body, his dramatic imagination, and the sense of spiritual struggle running through his work, which is one reason he remains one of the most compelling creative figures of any age.