Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos

Michelangelo: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  EncyclopĂŚdia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

News •

Touring exhibit of Michelangelo replicas coming to Columbus • Nov. 4, 2026, 5:02 AM ET (The Columbus Dispatch)
Discovering Vasari beyond the page • Oct. 28, 2026, 12:20 PM ET (Phys.org)

Facts

Also Known As Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
Born March 6, 1475 • Italy
Died February 18, 1564 (aged 88) • Rome • Italy
Notable Works “Bacchus” • “Crucifixion of St. Peter” • “David” • “Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John” • “Moses” • “Pietà” • “The Last Judgment”
Movement / Style Early Renaissance • Mannerism • Renaissance
Subjects Of Study tondo

Did You Know?

  • Michelangelo was commissioned by nine different Popes, including for a project gilding decorative knobs for two of the Popes beds.
  • Several of Michelangelos poems were set to music by contemporaneous composers.
  • The poor quality of the marble used to make David may cause it to break down more quickly than other statues.

Photos and Videos

Michelangelo
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.
The marble statue of David by Michelangelo stands in a domed gallery in Florence, Italy, depicting a nude male figure in a contrapposto pose.
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.
Michelangelo: The Creation of Adam
Michelangelo: Delphic Sibyl
Marble sculpture Moses by Michelangelo, showing a seated, bearded Moses with tablets under his arm and horns on his head, set against an ornate architectural background.
Michelangelo: Dying Slave
Michelangelo: Tomb of Giuliano de' Medici
Michelangelo's The Last Judgment, Explained
Examine Details of Michelangelo's PietĂ  of 1499, Portraying the Virgin Mary Holding Jesus Christ After the Crucifixion
Discover How Michelangelo Came to Carve the David from a Badly Blocked Piece of Carrara Marble
The environmental impact of Carrara's marble quarries
Inside the ongoing preservation of the Vatican
See All Videos and Images →
Self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci drawn in red chalk, showing an elderly man with long hair and a flowing beard, with a serious, contemplative expression.
Leonardo da Vinci
Italian artist, engineer, and scientist
Raphael: The Grand Duke's Madonna
Raphael
Italian painter and architect
default image
Paolo Uccello
Italian painter
Giotto: Lamentation
Giotto
Italian painter
Tintoretto: Last Supper
Tintoretto
Italian painter
Masaccio: Holy Trinity
Masaccio
Italian painter
Piero della Francesca: The Flagellation of Christ
Piero della Francesca
Italian painter
Fra Filippo Lippi: Madonna and Child
Fra Filippo Lippi
Italian painter
The Birth of the Virgin, fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio, 1486–90; in the choir of Santa Maria Novella, Florence.
Domenico Ghirlandaio
Italian painter
Baptism of Christ
Masolino
Italian painter
Parmigianino
Parmigianino
Italian artist
Lippi, Filippino: The Meeting of Joachim and Anne Outside the Golden Gate of Jerusalem
Filippino Lippi
Italian painter
Titian: Venus of Urbino
Titian
Italian painter
Andrea Mantegna: Arrival of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga
Andrea Mantegna
Italian artist
Sandro Botticelli: Birth of Venus
Sandro Botticelli
Italian painter
Fra Angelico: Madonna of Humility
Fra Angelico
Italian painter
Bellini, Giovanni: Saint Jerome Reading
Giovanni Bellini
Italian painter
The Adoration of the Shepherds by Giorgione
Giorgione
Italian painter
Correggio: Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist
Correggio
Italian artist
default image
Perugino
Italian painter

Related Quizzes

"The Birth of Venus," tempera on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485; in the Uffizi, Florence.
Who Painted the Most Expensive Paintings in the World?
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:
Poetry: First Lines
Color pastels, colored chalk, colorful chalk. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society
Ultimate Art Quiz
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
David Statue, Michelangelo. Florence, Italy.
Leonardo da Vinci versus Michelangelo
Encyclopaedia Britannica thistle graphic to be used with a Mendel/Consumer quiz in place of a photograph.
63 Questions from Britannica’s Most Popular Visual Arts Quizzes
Hagia Sophia. Istanbul, Turkey. Constantinople. Church of the Holy Wisdom. Church of the Divine Wisdom. Mosque.
Architecture: The Built World
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
Close-up of a palette held by a man. Mixing paint, painting, color mixing.
Artists, Painters, & Architects
Tate Modern extension Switch House, London, England. (Tavatnik, museums). Photo dated 2017.
Can You Match These Lesser-Known Paintings to Their Artists?