Facts about Michelangelo
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Approximately 17 feet tall, David was carved from a single marble block that took Michelangelo just 34 months to transform into Renaissance sculpture's most iconic nude male figure.
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Michelangelo's Homer bust, created around 1520, was initially believed to be an authentic classical sculpture and fooled Renaissance scholars for centuries before being identified as his own work.
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Michelangelo apprenticed under Ghirlandaio for three years starting at age 13 in 1488, learning fresco technique before becoming an independent sculptor.
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Michelangelo's Last Judgment fresco on the Sistine Chapel's altar wall took nine years to paint from 1536 to 1545, depicting approximately 400 human figures.
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Michelangelo's right hand was permanently deformed from years of chisel work, yet he continued sculpting and painting throughout his entire career despite chronic pain and arthritis.
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Over 400 drawings by Michelangelo survive today, including detailed anatomical sketches of human muscles and organs he studied through dissection to perfect his artistic renderings.
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Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling in 1508 when the artist was 33 years old and initially reluctant to accept the project.
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Michelangelo's David required two years of carving from a single block of Carrara marble that had been abandoned as unusable by other sculptors before he began in 1501.
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In 1564, Michelangelo died in Rome at age 88, leaving the Pietà Rondanini unfinished just days before his death.
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Marble dust from carving David caused Michelangelo chronic respiratory problems throughout his 88-year life, contributing to his physical decline.
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At age 88, Michelangelo was still designing St. Peter's Basilica as chief architect, a position he held without payment for the final 18 years of his life.
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The Sistine Chapel ceiling took Michelangelo approximately four years to complete, from 1508 to 1512, covering 5,000 square meters.