Michelangelo (surnamed BUONARROTI), 1475-1564

Florentine architect, sculptor, and painter; after 1546 intrusted with the continuation of St. Peter's, Rome, and designer of its famous dome. The Palace of the Capitol is one of his buildings; the design of IMG:content-1353.jpg:[graphic] the Farnese Palace is partly his. As architect he represents the tendencies of the middle Renai ance period; his details are consequently cold and mechanical. The statue of Moses . which forms part of the tomb of Pope Julius II., in San Pietro in Vincoli at Rome, is his greatest work in sculpture, but the David and Tombs of the Medici in Florence and the Captives of the Louvre, also show his colo al power. As painter his greatest work is the series of frescoes for the Story of Genesis , with attendant prophets and sibyls, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, at Rome, begun 1508. The Last Judgment on the rear wall of the chapel, chapel, begun be 1534, shows his wonderful technical capacities in the design esign of the nude figure and in foreshortening. His oil p paintings are few and important only historically. He was also a poet, and his sonnets are renowned. As statesman and politician he took a prominent place in Italian history; as military commander he directed the defense of Florence during the siege of 1529-30. Moses, by Michelangelo.