Studies for the Libyan Sibyl
c. 1510–1511 · Red chalk on paper
02 / THE MAN BEHIND THE MASTERPIECES
An extraordinary artist.
A deeply human life.
Sculptor, painter, architect, poet.
Always, a seeker.
Born in Caprese in 1475, Michelangelo came of age in Florence, training in Domenico Ghirlandaio’s workshop. He would work for the Medici and the popes, yet he understood himself, above all, as a sculptor.
His life unfolded between Florence and Rome. Across marble, fresco, and paper, the human body became his language for ambition, vulnerability, and faith.
The working life
Drawing was a place to think. He studied living models and returned to the same limbs, gestures, and turns of the body, refining ideas before translating them into monumental works.
Beyond the workshop
Letters, poems, and gift drawings reveal a private world of close friendships. Tommaso de’ Cavalieri and Vittoria Colonna were important companions; his later work often turned toward questions of faith and mortality.
Born in Caprese
Begins the David
The Sistine ceiling
Makes Rome his home
A legacy begins