Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoniwas an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, he has since also been described as one of the greatest artists of all time. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a...
NationalityItalian
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth6 March 1475
CityCaprese, Italy
CountryItaly
I cannot live under pressures from patrons, let alone paint.
Perfection is no small thing, but it is made up of small things.
The greatest artist has no conception which a single block of white marble does not potentially contain within its mass, but only a hand obedient to the mind can penetrate to this image.
Can't you see the angel imprisoned in the block of stone trying to get out? I am trying to free him
Lord free me of myself, so I can please you!
If there is some good in me, it is because I was born in the subtle atmosphere of your country of Arezzo. Along with the milk of my nurse I received the knack of handling chisel and hammer, with which I make my figures.
If I love in thee, beloved, only what thou lovest most, do not be angry; for so one spirit is enamoured of another.
The power of one fair face makes my love sublime, for it has weaned my heart from low desires.
From such a gentle thing, from such a fountain of all delight, my every pain is born.
And who is so barbarous as not to understand that the foot of a man is nobler than his shoe, and his skin nobler than that of the sheep with which he is clothed.
The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.
Let it be enough for you to have bread and live virtuously and poorly like Christ, as I do here. I live meanly and don't bother about life or honor ... and I live with the greatest toil and a thousand worries. It is now about 15 years since I had a happy hour.
Trifles make perfection but perfection is not a trifle
The great tragedy of life is not that people set their sights too high and fail to achieve their goals but that they set their sights too low and do.