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
Beauty depends on purpose. It is in the elements best suited to their purpose or aim that beauty shines forth most strongly.
Art is a jealous thing; it requires the whole and entire man.
Painters are not in any way unsociable through pride, but either because they find few pursuits equal to painting, or in order not to corrupt themselves with the useless conversation of idle people, and debase the intellect from the lofty imaginations in which they are always absorbed.
Love is a beautiful image Imagined or seen within the heart, The friend of virtue and gentility.
Trifles make perfection but perfection is not a trifle
The more the marbles wastes, the more the statue grows.
Painting and sculpture, labour and good faith, have been my ruin and I continually go from bad to worse. Better it would have been for me if I had set myself to making matches in my youth. I should not be in such distress of mind.
Perfection is no small thing, but it is made up of small things.
I am still learning. (at age 87)
Art is the gift of God, and must be used unto His glory. That in art is highest which aims at this.
So now, from this mad passion Which made me take art for an idol and a king I have learnt the burden of error that it bore And what misfortune springs from man's desire... The world's frivolities have robbed me of the time That I was given for reflecting upon God.
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.
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.
No thought is born in me that does not bear the image of death.