Where Michelangelo's Artwork is Displayed

You can find Michelangelo's artwork in the following museums, churches, buildings, and open spaces:

- Vatican Museums, Rome (especially the Sistine Chapel)
- St. Peter's Basilica, Rome (La Pietà)
- St. Peter's Basilica, Rome (design for dome, partial design for floor plan)
- San Pietro in Vincoli church, Rome (Moses)
- Santa Maria sopra Minerva Basilica, Rome
- Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome
- Uffizi Gallery, Florence
- Medici Chapel and Laurentian Library, San Lorenzo Basilica, Florence
- Museum of Cathedral Works, Florence (The Deposition)
- Accademia Gallery, Florence (the original David sculpture)
- Casa Buonarroti, Florence
- Bargello Museum, Florence
- Palazzo Vecchio, Florence
- Santa Maria del Santo Spirito Basilica, Florence (rare wooden crucifix carved when Michelangelo was 17)
- Basilica of San Domenico, Bologna, Italy
- Cathedral, Siena, Italy
- Louvre, Paris (Rebellious and Dying Slaves)
- National Gallery, London
- Royal Academy of Arts, London
- Royal Library and Print Room, Windsor Castle, England
- Church of Our Lady, Bruges, Belgium
- Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia








Trivia About Michelangelo:

- A distant connection to the Tudors: When Michelangelo was young and working for the Medici, he derided the work of another young sculptor, Pietro Torrigiano, who responded by breaking Michelangelo's nose. Torrigiano -- who would eventually work in England for Henry VII and create the tomb effigies of the King and his Queen, Elizabeth of York (among other works) -- was therefore responsible for the disfigurement of the 'Divine' Michelangelo's face.

- It is said that after creating the beautiful La Pietà, Michelangelo overheard visitors to the Vatican crediting his sculpture to another artist. So he sneaked into the Vatican one night and carved his name into the sash across the Virgin Mary's chest:
"MICHAELA[N]GELUS BONAROTUS FLORENTIN[US] FACIEBA [T]"

(Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florentine, made this).

- In The Last Judgement, Michelangelo painted his own likeness as the flayed skin being carried by a martyr.



- When Michelangelo's David was first unveiled in the Palazzo della Signoria, it was stoned by protesters who objected to it because it 'inflamed passions.'

- During an uprising against the Medici in 1527, David's arm was broken off - but recovered and hidden by a young Giorgio Vasari (author of Lives of the Most Eminent Painter, Sculptors, and Architects, 1550).

- When Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, he did it for the most part lying on his back.




- As a contender for the title of "Renaissance Man" in competition with Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo was called "Il Divino" (the Divine One) by his contemporaries. He was also the first Western artist to have his biography published during his own lifetime.

- Although an amazing and gifted painter, Michelangelo's true passion was actually sculpture. He was also an outstanding architect.

- When he did paint, Michelangelo's preferred medium was fresco because he did not like to work in oils.

- Michelangelo also wrote poems.

- Michelangelo had two biographies written during his own lifetime. This had never been done before for any other artist. The biographies were written by Giorgio Vasari and Ascanio Condivi. The Condivi biography was encouraged by Michelangelo himself, to correct some of the errors that Vasari made in the first biography.

- During the entire span of his career, Michelangelo had a love/hate relationship with the Medici family. He worked for them in their native city of Florence, as well as for two Medici Popes in Rome. Near the end of his career he distanced himself from them completely, due to the politics of Cosimo I de' Medici. When Michelangelo died in Rome, the Medici arranged to sneak his body back to Florence in a straw cart for a grand funeral and burial at the church of Santa Croce in his native city.



Michelangelo Art of the Day: