February 18th 1564: Michelangelo diesOn this day in 1564, the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangel

February 18th 1564: Michelangelo diesOn this day in 1564, the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo died in Rome aged eighty-eight. He was born Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni in 1475, and at a young age was apprenticed to a notable painter in Florence. He ingratiated himself with the prominent Florentine Medici family, known for their support of the arts, eventually living in the household of patriarch Lorenzo de’ Medici. Michelangelo then traveled throughout Italy, living in Bologna and Rome, all the while perfecting his sculpture work. His ‘Pietà’ in 1497 made him a well-known artist, and when back in Florence in the first years of the sixteenth century he produced his masterpiece - ‘David’. Between 1508 and 1512 Michelangelo worked on painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, which catapulted him to fame as one of Italy’s most renowned artists. In his later years he focused more on architecture, designing buildings and facades in Florence and Rome. After an illustrious career spanning decades, Michelangelo died in 1564, with his status as one of history’s most famous artists exemplified in his sculptures and paintings. -- source link

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