The Medici family commissioned Michelangelo to create a magnificent facade for the San Lorenzo church in Florence. He worked on the project for three years, selecting the most magnificent marble from his favorite quarries. Then ... the Medici family cancelled the work. Michelangelo was devastated.
To appease the artist, the Medicis gave Michelangelo a smaller commission - to create a library at San Lorenzo. His work - the Laurentian Library - was so stunning that it confirmed Michelangelo's multi-dimensional talent.
Then ... war broke out between the Medici family and the forces of democracy in Florence and ... Michelangelo took the side of ... the Republic. It was a decision which caused him to leave town - until he was summoned back to create sculptures for a Medici family tomb.
Before he finished work on the tomb's sculptures, Michelangelo returned to Rome. Thirty years after he completed his frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he was given another Sistine commission.
Michelangelo would paint what some art historians have hailed as the Sistine's finest work: The Last Judgment. "It would send shock waves through the Vatican."
See, also:
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 1
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 2
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 3
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 4
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 5
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 6
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 7
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 8
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 9
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 10
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 11
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 12
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 13
Renaissance Artist - The Divine Michelangelo, Part 15
Credits
From "The Divine Michelangelo" (2004), with Stephen Noonan playing the title role. Online, courtesy BBC.
Directors
Tim Dunn
Stuart Elliott
Narrator
Susannah York
Michelangelo
Stephen Noonan
