Michelangelo

Introduction & Top Questions
Early life and works
The middle years
- The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
- Other projects
- The Medici Chapel
- The Laurentian Library and fortifications
- Other projects and writing
The last decades
Legacy and influence

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Michelangelo's The Last Judgment, Explained

Michelangelo: Detail of a Sistine Chapel ceiling fresco

Marble sculpture Pieta by Michelangelo shows the Virgin Mary seated and holding the lifeless body of Jesus across her lap, displayed against a marble wall in St. Peter's Basilica.

Examine Details of Michelangelo's Pietà of 1499, Portraying the Virgin Mary Holding Jesus Christ After the Crucifixion

The marble statue of David by Michelangelo stands in a domed gallery in Florence, Italy, depicting a nude male figure in a contrapposto pose.

Discover How Michelangelo Came to Carve the David from a Badly Blocked Piece of Carrara Marble

Visitors closely observe Michelangelo's round painting Holy Family (Tondo Doni) with an ornate gold frame, displayed on a red wall at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

At a Glance

David, marble sculpture by Michelangelo, 1501–04; in the Accademia, Florence.

Michelangelo (di Lodovico Buonarroti) summary

Quizzes

Color pastels, colored chalk, colorful chalk. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society

Ultimate Art Quiz

Close-up of a palette held by a man. Mixing paint, painting, color mixing.

Artists, Painters, & Architects

Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry

A Study of Poetry

4:043 Dickinson, Emily: A Life of Letters, This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me; I'll tell you how the Sun Rose/A Ribbon at a time; Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul

Famous Poets and Poetic Form

Hagia Sophia. Istanbul, Turkey. Constantinople. Church of the Holy Wisdom. Church of the Divine Wisdom. Mosque.

Architecture: The Built World

Related Questions

How did Lorenzo de’ Medici influence Michelangelo’s early development as an artist?
How did Michelangelo begin his artistic training in Florence?
How did Michelangelo contribute to the design of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome?
How did Michelangelo influence Mannerist artists in Florence?
How did Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling from scaffolding?
How did Michelangelo turn a damaged block of marble into the statue of David?
How did Michelangelo’s David become a political symbol for the Florentine republic?
How did Michelangelo’s poetry change during his later years?
How did Michelangelo’s sculpture differ from earlier artists’ portrayals of David?
How did Michelangelo’s style change as he progressed across the Sistine Chapel ceiling?
How did the discovery of the Laocoön group influence Michelangelo’s sculptures?
How does Michelangelo’s David use body position to show tension and readiness?
How does The Creation of Adam portray the relationship between God and humanity?
How does The Last Judgment differ in color and figure style from the Sistine Chapel ceiling?
How have scholars interpreted Neoplatonic ideas in the Sistine Chapel ceiling?
How many scenes from Genesis appear in the central panels of the Sistine Chapel ceiling?
How tall is Michelangelo’s David?
What do the figures of Charon and the River Styx represent in Michelangelo’s Last Judgment?
What kinds of poems did Michelangelo write?
What subjects are depicted in Michelangelo’s Battle of the Centaurs and Madonna of the Stairs?
When and where was Michelangelo Buonarroti born?
When did Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling?
When was Michelangelo’s Last Judgment completed?
Where are Michelangelo’s Dying Slave and Bound Slave displayed?
Where did Michelangelo include a self-portrait in The Last Judgment?
Where is Michelangelo’s Pietà located?
Where was Michelangelo’s original David moved in 1873?
Which Michelangelo sculpture remains at the tomb of Pope Julius II in San Pietro in Vincoli?
Which ancient artworks influenced Michelangelo’s early sculpture?
Which biblical stories appear on the Sistine Chapel ceiling?
Which buildings did Michelangelo design or alter during his later years in Rome?
Which copies of Michelangelo’s David can be seen in Florence?
Which fresco techniques did Michelangelo use for the Sistine Chapel ceiling?
Which later artists were influenced by Michelangelo’s treatment of anatomy and unfinished marble?
Which sculptures did Michelangelo create for the tomb of St. Dominic in Bologna?
Which times of day are represented by Michelangelo’s sculptures for the Medici tombs?
Which unfinished projects did Michelangelo begin for Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio?
Who was Bertoldo di Giovanni, and how did he contribute to Michelangelo’s training?
Why did Florence place Michelangelo’s David in front of the Palazzo Vecchio instead of on the cathedral roof?
Why did Michelangelo leave Florence after the Medici family was expelled in 1494?
Why did Michelangelo make the later Genesis scenes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling simpler and larger?
Why has Michelangelo been described as a Renaissance man?
Why is Michelangelo’s Pietà considered a major work of the High Renaissance?
What is Michelangelo best known for?
Why is Michelangelo so famous?
How did Michelangelo paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?
What was Michelangelo like as a person?
What makes Michelangelo a Renaissance man?
How was Donatello educated?
Why is Filippo Brunelleschi so famous?
What is Filippo Brunelleschi known for?
Why is Albrecht Dürer so famous?
What is Albrecht Dürer known for?

Visual Arts Painting Painters

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External Websites

Humanities LibreTexts - Michelangelo
The Getty - Michelangelo: Mind of the Master
Web Gallery of Art - Michelangelo Buonarroti
Smart History - Who was Michelangelo?
UEN Digital Press with Pressbooks - Who was Michelangelo?
Digital Commons at Lindenwood University - Michelangelo's Last Judgement: A crisis of conscience
Official Site of Michelangelo
Art in Context - Biography of Michelangelo Buonarroti
The Art Story - Biography of Michelangelo
ABC listen - Overnights - Michelangelo
World History Encyclopedia - Michelangelo

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Michelangelo - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
Michelangelo - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Michelangelo

Italian artist

Also known as: Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

Written by

Creighton E. Gilbert

Professor of History of Art, Yale University. Author of Michelangelo on and off the Sistine Ceiling; editor and translator of Complete Poems and Selected Letters of Michelangelo.

Creighton E. Gilbert

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Nov. 8, 2026 •History

Michelangelo (born March 6, 1475, Caprese, Republic of Florence [Italy]—died February 18, 1564, Rome, Papal States) was one of the towering figures of the Italian Renaissance, celebrated as a sculptor, painter, and architect of extraordinary range and ambition. Renowned for his mastery of the human form and his ability to convey both physical power and intense emotion, he created some of the most enduring masterpieces of Western art, including the Pietà, the David, and the...

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