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Today, we celebrate the 550th anniversary of the birth of Michelangelo Buonarroti, the most tormented and transformative artist of the Renaissance, whose influence has indelibly shaped Florence, Rome, and the history of art as we know it. Born on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, near Arezzo, in Tuscany, where his father Ludovico served as podestà, Michelangelo’s impact on the art world remains unparalleled.
At just 13 years old, Michelangelo moved to Florence, where he studied painting under Domenico Ghirlandaio († 1494). However, he soon turned his focus to sculpture, his true calling. Under the patronage of Lorenzo de’ Medici († 1492), Michelangelo deepened his understanding of human anatomy by studying the classical statues in the Medici collection. In 1496, he moved to Rome and created his first Pietà, a masterpiece sculpted at the age of 23, which is now displayed at the Jubilee door of the Vatican Basilica. Upon returning to Florence, he produced the David, a symbol of the Florentine Republic, and the Holy Family (Doni Tondo). In 1504, he was commissioned, along with Leonardo da Vinci († 1519), to fresco the Palazzo Vecchio. However, the project was left unfinished as Pope Julius II († 1513) called Michelangelo back to Rome to work on his tomb.
From 1508 to 1512, despite his primary focus on sculpture, Michelangelo undertook the challenge of painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, producing a work of dramatic and monumental style. After a stint in Florence, he returned to Rome to paint the immense and awe-inspiring Last Judgment on the Sistine Chapel’s altar wall, breaking with previous artistic traditions. In his later years, Michelangelo shifted his focus to architecture, taking on the role of chief architect for St. Peter’s Basilica. He continued the construction based on a revised plan by Donato Bramante († 1514), persevering in his task with a dedication that was both rare and profound. He completed the work up to the drum “for the love of God and without any reward,” as he had desired.[1] Michelangelo died on February 18, 1564, in Rome, at his residence in Macel de’ Corvi, near the Trajan Forum, which has since been destroyed. At the age of 88, Michelangelo passed away with remarkable piety, and those who were with him in his final moments attested that “no one could have departed from this life with a finer attitude nor with greater devotion.”[2] He left behind an artistic legacy of unparalleled significance.
Michelangelo’s sacred works, particularly the Sistine Chapel frescoes, were hailed by Pope Paul VI as a “great religious preaching” at the conclusion of the fifth centenary of the birth of “this gigantic figure of human genius.”[3] The Pope concluded by expressing gratitude to God and to Michelangelo for “the help he has given to our prayer, encouraging us with his vision of art to elevate ourselves toward the divine.”
In addressing the many artists present for the third time during his pontificate, Pope Montini remarked:
The example that comes to us from Michelangelo is a lesson that must continue to resonate even in our times, for the dignity of your mission, as well as for the joy of a new springtime of Christian art, which, under the impetus of the Second Vatican Council, promises to be rich with hope within the Church. And this call seems all the more urgent and timely to us, as false principles inspired by a view of life without higher hope threaten to degrade art from its lofty purposes. If art, according to Dante’s sculptural definition, ‘is almost God’s grandchild’ [Inferno 11.105], it needs to draw closer to God, to know Him and love Him in a constant effort of purification and self-giving […].
Art, especially art, like every human activity, must be aimed at an effort of sublimation. Like music, like poetry, like work, like thought, like prayer, it must be directed upwards. Michelangelo, therefore, reminds you of how much help faith can be for the artist, as it provides a constant stimulus to surpass oneself, to express oneself better, and to fuse one’s experiences into those magnificent syntheses of which the history of art, in its highest moments, has given us incomparable models. Only in this way, as your lofty mission demands, will you be able to serve humanity nobly and conscientiously, helping and guiding it to think well, to feel well, and to live well. By extending a fraternal hand that elevates others to love ‘whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely’ (Phil. 4:8), you will have contributed to the work of peace, and ‘then the God of peace will be with you’ (Phil. 4:9).
This call, if extended beyond the visual arts, also encompasses music, whether it serves liturgical needs or explores religious themes. Alongside many composers who dedicated their work to sacred music, such as Pier Luigi da Palestrina († 1594), Orlando di Lasso († 1594), and Tomás Luis de Victoria († 1611), numerous others—from George Frideric Handel († 1759) to Johann Sebastian Bach († 1750), from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart († 1791) to Franz Schubert († 1828), from Ludwig van Beethoven († 1827) to Hector Berlioz († 1889), from Franz Liszt († 1886) to Giuseppe Verdi († 1901)—have gifted us with masterpieces of profound religious inspiration.
Christian musicians, inspired by Michelangelo’s upward striving, should view their mission as an opportunity to transcend material and sensory forms, revealing “the truest aspects of human dignity, the sacredness of life, and the mysterious and even terrifying beauty of the Christian conception.”
[1] G. Vasari, Lives, Vol. IX, p. 64.
[2] Letter cited in G. Papini, Michelangelo, His Life and His Era, New York 1952, p. 513.