Michaelangelo Simini Case

When Michelangelo Simoni was 13, his father apprenticed him at a Florentine painter's workshop. His father figured that he was not interested in the family business. While he was at the workshop, he was exposed to the technique of fresco. Simoni spent a year at the workshop when a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was given to him. With the recommendation of Domenico Ghirlandaio, who was introduced to Simoni at the age of 6 by his school friend, Francesco Granacci, Simoni moved into a palace of Florentine ruler Lorenzo the Magnificent. While he was there, he studied under the respected sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni. He was also exposed to poets, scholars, and he learned Humanists. Michelangelo Simoni was also given permission from the Catholic Church to study cadavers for anatomy.

In 1498, Cardinal Jean Bilheres de lagraulas bolstere about Michelangelo's work. One of Simoni's sculptures, the Pieta which was a sculture of Mary holding the dead Jesus aross her lap, was finished in less than a year and was put into the church of the cardinal's tomb. It was moved five times before making its' way to it's current location which is St. Peter's Basiclica in Vatican City. Simoni also did a sculpture of David which is now in the city of Florence. Michelangelo Simoni wasalso given the aportunity to sculpt the tomb of Pope Julius II but was unable to when he told him to switch from scultping to painting to decorate the celing of the Sistine Chapel. As the project went on, the twelve apostles turned into more than three hundred figures on the ceiling of the sacred place. The project was then removed because of an infectious fungus in the plaster. Michelangelo then fired all of his assitants and completed the 65-foot celing alone.

After the paiting was done on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it was an example of High Renaissance art which incorporated the Christian symbology. prophecy, and humanist principles. After painting the Sistine Chapel, he turned back to architecture and continued to work on the tomb of Pop Julius II for several decades.