Coordinates	28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
Name	Stéphane Grappelli
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Stéphane Grappelli
Born	January 26, 1908
Died	December 01, 1997
Origin	Paris, France
Instrument	ViolinPianoSaxophoneAccordion
Genre	SwingContinental jazzGypsy jazz
Occupation	Musician
Associated acts	Django Reinhardt, Quintette du Hot Club de France, Oscar Peterson, David Grisman

Stéphane Grappelli (26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997) was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands.

For the first three decades of his career, he was billed using a gallicised spelling of his last name, Grappelly, reverting to "Grappelli" in 1969. The "Grappelli" spelling is now used almost universally when referring to the violinist – even on reissues of his early work.

Biography

Early years

Grappelli was born in Paris, France, to Italian/French parents: his father, marquess Ernesto Grappelli, was born in Alatri, Lazio. His French mother died when he was four and his father left to fight in World War I. As a result, at six he was accepted into Isadora Duncan's dance school, where he learnt to love French Impressionist music. Grappelli started his musical career busking on the streets of Paris and Montmartre with a violin. He began playing the violin at age 12, and attended the Conservatoire de Paris studying music theory, between 1924 and 1928. He made his living by busking on the side until he gained fame in Paris as a violin virtuoso. He also worked as a silent film pianist while at the conservatory and played the saxophone and accordion. Grappelli called his piano "My Other Love" and (many years later) released an album of solo piano of the same name.

For the first three decades of his musical career, Grappelli was billed as Stéphane Grappelly. Grappelli's own explanation for the changed spelling was that he was tired of people mispronouncing his last name as "Grappell-eye". It has also been suggested that Grappelli had changed his name in order to avoid military service in Italy, although this claim has been greeted with skepticism by his biographers.

His early fame came playing with the Quintette du Hot Club de France with Django Reinhardt, which disbanded in 1939 due to World War II. In 1940, a little known jazz pianist by the name of George Shearing made his debut as a sideman in Grappelli's band. Shearing went on to a enjoy long career.

Post-war

After the war he appeared on hundreds of recordings including sessions with Duke Ellington, jazz pianists Oscar Peterson, Michel Petrucciani and Claude Bolling, jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, jazz violinist Stuff Smith, Indian classical violinist L. Subramaniam, vibraphonist Gary Burton, pop singer Paul Simon, mandolin player David Grisman, classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin, orchestral conductor André Previn, guitar player Bucky Pizzarelli, guitar player Joe Pass, cello player Yo Yo Ma, harmonica and jazz guitar player Toots Thielemans, jazz guitarist Henri Crolla, bassist Jon Burr and fiddler Mark O'Connor. He also collaborated extensively with the British guitarist and graphic designer Diz Disley, recording 13 record albums with him and his trio (which included Denny Wright in its early years), and with now renowned British guitarist Martin Taylor. His Parisian trio of many years included guitarist Marc Fosset and bassist Patrice Carratini.

During the 1960s he played for cocktail hour at the Paris Hilton.

Grappelli recorded a solo for the title track of Pink Floyd's 1975 album Wish You Were Here. This was made almost inaudible in the mix, and so the violinist was not credited, according to Roger Waters, as it would be "a bit of an insult".

Grappelli made a cameo appearance in the 1978 film King of the Gypsies, along with noted mandolinist David Grisman. Three years later they performed together in concert, which was recorded live and released to critical acclaim.

In the 1980s he gave several concerts with the young British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.

In 1997, Grappelli received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He is an inductee of the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.

He died in Paris after undergoing a hernia operation. He is buried in the city's famous Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Discography

Albums

Note: This is not complete, as many of his recordings were not transferred from vinyl, and some of his other discs are compilations.

Djangology: Django Reinhardt, the Gypsy Genius (1936 to 1940)

Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt the Gold Edition (1934 to 1937, copyright 1998)

Bill Coleman with Django and Stephane Grappelli 1936 to 1938 (released 1985, DRG Records)

Unique Piano Session Paris 1955 (1955, Jazz Anthology)

Improvisations (Paris, 1956)

Afternoon in Paris (1971, MPS)

Manoir de Mes Reves (1972, Musidisc)

Homage To Django (1972, released 1976 Classic Jazz)

Just one of those things! (1973 Black Lion Records) Recorded at the 1973 Montreaux Jazz festival

Stephane Grappelli - I Got Rhythm! (1974 Black Lion Records) with Diz Disley, Denny Wright and Len Skeat recorded at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, 5 November, 1973

Shades of Django (1975, MPS)

Satin Doll (1975, Vanguard)

The Rock Peter and the Wolf (1976 RSO Records) (2007 CD Verdant Records) with Jack Lancaster, Phil Collins, Brian Eno, Keith Tippett, Julie Tippetts, Gary Brooker, Gary Moore, Alvin Lee, Manfred Mann etc.

Stephane Grappelli and Cordes (1977, Musidisc)

Live at Carnegie Hall (1978, Signature)

Stephane Grappelli and Joe Venuti: Venupelli Blues (1979, Affinity)

Oscar Peterson Skol (1979, released 1990 Pablo)

Young Django (1979, MPS)

Sonny Lester Collection (1980, LRC)

Stephane Grappelli `80 (1980 Happy Bird)

Stephane Grappelli/David Grisman Live at Berklee (recorded Sept. 20th 1979, Boston, Massachusetts)

Stephane Grappelli (Pye)

Diz Disley Live at Carnegie Hall (1983, Dr Jazz)

Vintage 1981 (1981, Concord)

Just One Of Those Things (1984, EMI Studios)

Grappelli Plays George Gershwin (1984, Musidisc)

Martin Taylor: We've Got The World on a String (1984, EMI)

Stuff Smith: Violins No End (1984, Pablo)

Fascinating Rhythm (1986, Jazz Life)

Live in San Francisco (1986, Blackhawk)

Classic Sessions: Stephane Grappelli, with Phil Woods and Louie Bellson (1987, RTV Communications Group)

Stephane Grappelli Plays Jerome Kern (1987, GRP)

The Intimate Grappelli (1988, Jazz Life)

How Can You Miss, with Louie Bellson and Phil Woods (1989, Rushmore)

Jean-Luc Ponty - Violin Summit (1989, Jazz Life)

Jazz 'Round Midnight (1989, Verve)

Stephane Grappelli in Tokyo (1991, A & M records)

Bach to the Beatles (1991, Academy Sound)

Stephane Grappelli 1992 Live (1992, Verve)

Michel Legrand (1992, Verve)

Martin Taylor Reunion (1993, Linn Records)

Jazz Masters (20+-year compilation, 1994, Verve)

85 and Still Swinging (1993, Angel)

Stephane Grappelli Live at the Blue Note (1996, Telarc Jazz)

Crazy Rhythm (1996/2000, Pulse)

Parisian Thoroughfare (1997, Laserlight)

Collaborations

Stephane Grappelli and Claude Bolling: First Class (1992, Milan)

Stephane Grappelli and Gary Burton: Paris Encounter (1972, Atlantic)

Stephane Grappelli and Hubert Clavecin: Dansez Sur Vos Souvenirs (Musidisc)

Stephane Grappelli and David Grisman Live (1981, Warner Brothers)

Stephane Grappelli and Barney Kessel: Remember Django (1969, Black Lion)

Stephane Grappelli and Barney Kessel: Limehouse Blues (1972, Black Lion)

Stephane Grappelli and Yo Yo Ma: (1989)

Menuhin and Grappelli Play Berlin, Kern, Porter and Rodgers & Hart (1973 to 1985, EMI)

Stephane Grappelli and Yehudi Menuhin: Jalousie (1975, EMI)

Stephane Grappelli and Helen Merrill (1986, Music Makers)

Stephane Grappelli and Oscar Peterson (1973, Musicdisc)

Stephane Grappelli and Jean-Luc Ponty: Compact Jazz (1988, MPS)

Stephane Grappelli and The George Shearing Trio: The Reunion (1977, MPS)

Stephane Grappelli and Martial Solal (1980, MPO)

Stephane Grappelli and Martial Solal: Olympia 1988 (1988, Atlantic)

Stephane Grappelli with Marc Fosset Stephanova (Concord Jazz, 1983)

Stephane Grappelli and Dr. L. Subramaniam: Conversations (1992, Milestone)

Stephane Grappelli and Toots Thielemans: Bringing it Together (1984, Cymekob)

Stephane Grappelli and McCoy Tyner; One on One (1990, Milestone)

Stephane Grappelli and Joe Venuti: Best of Jazz Violins (1989, LRC)

Violin Summit: Stephane Grappelli, Stuff Smith, Svend Asmussen, Jean-Luc Ponty (1967, Polygram)

Stéphane Grappelli and Baden Powell: La Grande Reunion (1974, Accord)

Stephane Grapellli and Paul Simon "Paul Simon" (9) 1972 Hobo's Blues (Columbia 1972)

Stephane Grappelli and Earl Hines: Stephane Grappelli meets Earl Hines

Stephane Grappelli and Michel Petrucciani: "Flamingo" (Dreyfus 1996)

Stephane Grappelli and Vassar Clements: "Together at Last" (1992, Flying Fish)

Stephane Grappelli, Carl Hession, Frankie Gavin, Marc Fosset: "Frankie Gavin 2003-2004 Collection/The Grappelli Era" (2003)

References

Further reading

External links

Obituary

Information on biography DVD

"Twelve Essential Stéphane Grappelli Recordings" by Scott Albin at jazz.com.

"The Improviser " - 3-part series on Jazz Violinist Stéphane Grappelli on AdventuresInMusic.biz, 2004

Stéphane Grappelli TV appearance

Category:1908 births Category:1997 deaths Category:People from Paris Category:French people of Italian descent Category:Swing violinists Category:Continental jazz violinists Category:French buskers Category:French jazz musicians Category:French jazz violinists Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Gypsy jazz violinists Category:Jazz violinists Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery

Coordinates	28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
Name	Stéphane Lambiel
Caption	Lambiel at the 2010 European Championships
Country
Birth date	April 02, 1985
Birth place	Martigny, Valais
Hometown	Saxon
Height
Coach	Peter Grütter
Formercoach	Viktor Petrenko Galina Zmievskaya
Choreographer	Salome Brunner Antonio Najarro
Retired	March 9, 2010
Skating club	Patineurs de Genève
Combined total	246.72
Combined date	2010 Winter Olympics
Sp score	84.63
Sp date	2010 Winter Olympics
Fs score	162.09
Fs date	2010 Winter Olympics
Medaltemplates

}} Stéphane Lambiel (born April 2, 1985 in Martigny, Valais) is a Swiss figure skater and a choreographer. He is a two-time (2005–2006) World Champion, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time (2005, 2007) Grand Prix Champion and a nine-time (2001–08, 2010) Swiss national champion. Lambiel is known for his spins and is credited with popularizing some spin positions.

He announced his retirement from competitive skating on October 16, 2008, citing an injury to the adductor muscle in one of his thighs. However, on July 25, 2009, he announced that he would return to competitive skating and try to qualify for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. On March 9, 2010, he again announced his retirement from competition.

Personal life

Lambiel grew up in Saxon, Switzerland. He has a sister, Silvia (born in 1982), and a brother, Christophe (born in 1989). Lambiel's mother is Portuguese. Lambiel lives in Lausanne, Switzerland and received his "maturité" (matura) in biology and chemistry in June 2004.

Lambiel speaks French, German (not Swiss German), English, and Portuguese fluently. He is learning Italian.

He has recurring injuries in both his knees, requiring him to miss exhibitions and training time. Unlike most figure skaters, Lambiel can spin and jump in both directions. He is able to do successive double axels, changing his rotation direction between each one. However, he has stopped training this. According to Mishin, Lambiel was "strangled by the modern figure skating regulations".

Career

Early career

Lambiel began skating when he was seven in Saxon, Switzerland. Lambiel placed fourth and was sent to the Olympics, where he finished fifteenth. He was eighteenth at the 2002 Worlds.

The following season, Lambiel placed fifth at the 2003 European Championships and moved up to tenth at Worlds. In 2003-2004 season, he was sixth at the 2004 European Championships and fourth at the 2004 World Championships.

2004–2005 season

.]]

Lambiel was forced to miss the 2004–2005 ISU Grand Prix season due to injury, but recouped to place 4th at the 2005 European Championships.

At the 2005 World Championships, held in Moscow, Russia, Lambiel was ahead of Evgeni Plushenko after the qualifying round and short program. Plushenko then withdrew from the competition with an injury. Skating to the King Arthur soundtrack in the long program, Lambiel landed two quadruple toe loops and gave an overall strong performance to win his first World championship; it was also his first medal at an ISU championship. He became the first Swiss man to win the event since Hans Gerschwiler did so in 1947.

2005–2006 season

Lambiel won silver medals at both his Grand Prix events and won the Grand Prix Final. He came in second at the 2006 European Championships in Lyon, France, behind Plushenko. Lambiel went into the 2006 Olympic Games, in Turin, Italy, with a strong chance to medal. He was third after the short program and only placed fourth in the long program, but was able to win the silver medal when other contenders faltered. Lambiel did not complete a triple axel at the Olympics, but he did land a clean quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop-double loop combination.

Plushenko chose not to go to the 2006 World Championships, and Lambiel was considered a favorite to defend his title. He was first after the qualifying round, fourth in the short program and first in the long program, and became the first Swiss skater ever to be a two-time World Champion.

After the 2005–06 season, Lambiel participated in the Champions on Ice tour.

2006–2007 season

Lambiel began the 2006–2007 season with a win at Skate Canada, where he finished seventh in the short program but first in the free skate. He was also assigned to the 2006 NHK Trophy, but withdrew prior to the event, citing health reasons. He recovered in time to skate at the Swiss Championships, where he won his seventh national title.

On January 16, Lambiel withdrew from the 2007 European Championships, citing burnout. He returned to compete at the 2007 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. In the short program, Lambiel fell on his triple axel and only tripled the first jump in his intended quadruple toe loop-double toe loop combination, finishing sixth. He did better in the long program, landing two quadruple toe loops and a triple axel, and earning high program component scores and a level four for three of his spins. Lambiel finished in 2nd on the night and third overall behind Brian Joubert and Daisuke Takahashi.

2007–2008 season

.]]

In 2007, Lambiel finished 3rd at the Cup of China and 2nd at the Cup of Russia, qualifying him for the Grand Prix Final. He won the event for a second time in his career with 239.10 points, only 0.16 points ahead of Daisuke Takahashi.

At the 2008 European Championships in Zagreb, Lambiel had a disappointing short program, falling on his triple axel and managing only a triple toe loop-double loop combination; he placed 4th. He finished 2nd in the long program after landing a quadruple toe loop-double toe loop-double loop combination and earning 80 points in program components score for his Flamenco program, a very high score at that time. He won his second Silver European medal, behind Czech Tomáš Verner.

At the 2008 World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, Lambiel fell on his triple axel and put his hand down on a quadruple toe loop in the short program, leaving him in fifth place going into the free skate. In the free skate, he stepped out of his triple axel attempt, put his hand down again on the quadruple toe loop in his combination, and then stepped out of his solo quadruple toe loop. He finished in fifth place overall.

2008–2009 season

Lambiel moved to the United States to train with Viktor Petrenko in Wayne, New Jersey. He began his season at the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy, which was the qualifying competition for countries that did not already have Olympic slots. Lambiel finished first in the short with 77.45 points, falling on his quadruple toe-loop but receiving a level four on all of his spins. He also won the free skate with a score of 154.91 points; he landed a quadruple toe loop-double toe loop-double toe loop combination and a triple flip-triple toe loop combination, and received a level four on two of his spins. His program components score was high in both segments of the competition and he won the title with 232.36 points, qualifying Switzerland for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Lambiel won his ninth national title at the 2010 Swiss Championships. He placed first in both the short program and the free skate to win the gold medal with a total of 244.23 points, 44.78 ahead of Jamal Othman. He then competed in the 2010 European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, where he placed fifth in the short program with 77.75 points, after having problems with his quadruple toe-loop. He rebounded in the free skate, earning 160.79 points to win the silver medal. His program components score of 85.00 was the highest of the night. Overall, he scored 238.54 points, 16.85 behind Evgeni Plushenko.

Lambiel was the flag bearer for Switzerland at the 2010 Winter Olympics. At the Olympics, he was fifth in the short program with a score of 84.63 points and third in the free skate with a score of 162.09, a new personal best. He finished 4th with 246.72, behind medalists Evan Lysacek, Plushenko and Daisuke Takahashi.

A day after the long program, Lambiel announced that he had long intended to sit out the 2010 World Championships. A few weeks later, he announced his retirement from competition.

After "Thin Ice", he performed in Kings On Ice in Russia, alongside Brian Joubert, Johnny Weir and Evgeni Plushenko.

He also took part in ice shows Sweden, Eastern Europe, Germany, Japan, China and South Korea, including , headlined by Kim Yu-Na.

Coaching changes

Lambiel trained from 1995 through the 2007–2008 season with coach Peter Grütter, with a brief stop in 2004. He trained mainly in Geneva and Lausanne. As there was no ice in Geneva from April to June, he also trained in Germany (Oberstdorf sometimes) during that time. Lambiel assists in designing his own costumes.

On June 6, 2008, Lambiel announced that he would be leaving coach Peter Grütter and moving to New Jersey to work with Viktor Petrenko and Galina Zmievskaya. They coached him from June until his retirement in October 2008. When he announced his return to competition in July 2009, he said that he would be coached once again by Peter Grütter in Switzerland.

Public life and endorsements

Lambiel has many sponsors in Switzerland. In 2007, he designed a Swiss watch called the Spin Master.

Lambiel's sponsors include Ford Motor Company, Hublot and Swisscom.

In 2007, Lambiel has appeared in a TV commercial for Fuji Xerox in Japan and Swiss Farmers Union's campaign.

He is the headliner of the ice show Art on Ice, most often held in Lausanne and Zurich, Switzerland.

He also takes part in Moi pour Toit, an NGO involved in building homes and schools for the deprived children of Colombia.

Career as choreographer

Lambiel has also started a career as a choreographer. He has choreographed for: Daisuke Takahashi Denis Ten

Programs

.]] {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! Season ! Short program ! Free skating ! Exhibition |- ! 2010–present | | | Prelude No.5 by Sergei Rachmaninoff

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Bring Me to Life by Evanescence |- ! 2009–2010 | William Tell Overture by Gioachino Rossini | La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi

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Otoño Porteño by Ástor Piazzolla and Ensamble Nuevo Tango | Let the Good Times Roll by Ray Charles

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In Your Eyes by Anastacia

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Ne Me Quitte Pas by Jacques Brel |- ! 2008–2009 | align="centre"| Did not compete this season | align="centre"| Did not compete this season | Otoño Porteño by Ástor Piazzolla

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Tainted Love by Paul Young

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Freak Like Meby Sugababes |- ! 2007–2008 | Carne Cruda by Fernando Egozcue | Poeta (Flamenco) by Vicente Amigo | Un Giorno Per Noi from Romeo And Juliet by Josh Groban

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Father And Son by Ronan Keating

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Gimme More & Sexy Back by Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake |- ! 2006–2007 | Geissel Drama by Christine Lauterburg

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The Blood Diamond Soundtrack by James Newton Howard | Poeta by Vicente Amigo

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The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi | Fix You by Coldplay

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New Shoes by Paolo Nutini

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Stayin' Alive by Robin Gibb |- ! 2005–2006 | Malaguena from Once Upon a Time in Mexico

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Dralion by Cirque du Soleil | The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi | You're Beautiful by James Blunt

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If I Hadn't Got You by Lisa Stansfield

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I Don't Want to Be by Gavin DeGraw

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Fix You by Coldplay |- ! 2004–2005 | Spanish Caravan by George Winston | The Truman Show Soundtrack by Philip Glass and Burkhard Dallwitz

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King Arthur Soundtrack by Hans Zimmer | E Lucevan e Le Stelle from Tosca by Florent Pagny

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Light My Fire by The Doors

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Killer by Seal

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Billie Jean by Michael Jackson

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Oceania by Björk |- ! 2003–2004 | Objection (techno remix) by Shakira

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I'm A-Doun For Lack o' Johnnie (A Little Scottish Fantasy) by Vanessa Mae | Zabuca by Johannes Linstead Loving Paris by Buddha Bar IV

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Gipsy Dance by Edvin Marton | Take the Long Way Home by Supertramp |- ! 2002–2003 | Laissez-moi Me Griser by Maurice El Medioni, Orchestra Salon Oriental | Chocolat Soundtrack by Rachel Portman | Magic Stradivarius by Edvin Marton

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La Vie Fait Ce Qu'Elle Veut by Julie Zenatti |- ! 2001–2002 | Vuelvo Al Sur Ya Basta! by Gotan Project's Revancha del Tango | Quidam by Cirque du Soleil | Born by Bond |- ! 2000–2001 | La Cumparsita by Xavier Cugat | Triton by Joseph Racaille | |- ! 1999–2000 | La Cumparsita by Xavier Cugat | Triton by Joseph Racaille | |- |}

Competitive highlights

Post–2001

.]]

Lambiel did not compete in the 2008-2009 season.

WD = Withdrew

Pre–2001

N = Novice level; J = Junior level

References

External links

Official Website

Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:People from Martigny Category:Swiss male single skaters Category:Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Category:Figure skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Category:Figure skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Category:Olympic figure skaters of Switzerland Category:Olympic silver medalists for Switzerland Category:Olympic medalists in figure skating

Coordinates	28°36′36″N77°13′48″N
Bgcolour	#EEDD82
Name	Michelangelo
Caption	Portrait of Michelangelo by Jacopino del Conte (after 1535) at the age of 60
Birth name	Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni
Birth date	March 06, 1475
Birth place	near Arezzo, Caprese, Tuscany
Death date	February 18, 1564
Death place	Rome, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Field	sculpture, painting, architecture, and poetry
Training	Apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio
Movement	High Renaissance
Works	David, The Creation of Adam, Pietà
Signature	Michelangelo Signature2.svg

, 1546]] from the Sistine Chapel ceiling]] Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni Two biographies were published of him during his lifetime; one of them, by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all artistic achievement since the beginning of the Renaissance, a viewpoint that continued to have currency in art history for centuries. In his lifetime he was also often called Il Divino ("the divine one"). One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur, and it was the attempts of subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo's impassioned and highly personal style that resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance.

Life and works

Early life

Michelangelo was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese near Arezzo, Tuscany. (Today, Caprese is known as Caprese Michelangelo). For several generations, his family had been small-scale bankers in Florence, but his father, Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti di Simoni, failed to maintain the bank's financial status, and held occasional government positions. The Buonarrotis claimed to descend from the Countess Mathilde of Canossa; this claim remains unproven, but Michelangelo himself believed it. Several months after Michelangelo's birth, the family returned to Florence, where Michelangelo was raised. At later times, during the prolonged illness and after the death of his mother in 1481 when he was just six years old, Michelangelo lived with a stonecutter and his wife and family in the town of Settignano, where his father owned a marble quarry and a small farm. The young artist, however, showed no interest in his schooling, preferring to copy paintings from churches and seek the company of painters. When Michelangelo was only fourteen, his father persuaded Ghirlandaio to pay his apprentice as an artist, which was highly unusual at the time. When in 1489 Lorenzo de' Medici, de facto ruler of Florence, asked Ghirlandaio for his two best pupils, Ghirlandaio sent Michelangelo and Francesco Granacci. From 1490 to 1492, Michelangelo attended the Humanist academy which the Medici had founded along Neo Platonic lines. Michelangelo studied sculpture under Bertoldo di Giovanni. At the academy, both Michelangelo's outlook and his art were subject to the influence of many of the most prominent philosophers and writers of the day including Marsilio Ficino, Pico della Mirandola and Poliziano. At this time, Michelangelo sculpted the reliefs Madonna of the Steps (1490–1492) and Battle of the Centaurs (1491–1492). The latter was based on a theme suggested by Poliziano and was commissioned by Lorenzo de Medici. While both were apprenticed to Bertoldo di Giovanni, Pietro Torrigiano struck the 17-year-old on the nose, and thus caused that disfigurement which is so conspicuous in all the portraits of Michelangelo.

Early adulthood

Lorenzo de' Medici's death on 8 April 1492 brought a reversal of Michelangelo's circumstances. Michelangelo left the security of the Medici court and returned to his father's house. In the following months he carved a wooden crucifix (1493), as a gift to the prior of the Florentine church of Santo Spirito, who had permitted him some studies of anatomy on the corpses of the church's hospital. Between 1493 and 1494 he bought a block of marble for a larger than life statue of Hercules, which was sent to France and subsequently disappeared sometime circa 18th century. During the half year he spent in Florence he worked on two small statues, a child St. John the Baptist and a sleeping Cupid. According to Condivi, Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, for whom Michelangelo had sculpted St. John the Baptist, asked that Michelangelo "fix it so that it looked as if it had been buried" so he could "send it to Rome...pass [it off as] an ancient work and...sell it much better." Both Lorenzo and Michelangelo were unwittingly cheated out of the real value of the piece by a middleman. Cardinal Raffaele Riario, to whom Lorenzo had sold it, discovered that it was a fraud, but was so impressed by the quality of the sculpture that he invited the artist to Rome. This apparent success in selling his sculpture abroad as well as the conservative Florentine situation may have encouraged Michelangelo to accept the prelate's invitation. at the age of 21. On 4 July of the same year, he began work on a commission for Cardinal Raffaele Riario, an over-life-size statue of the Roman wine god, Bacchus. However, upon completion, the work was rejected by the cardinal, and subsequently entered the collection of the banker Jacopo Galli, for his garden.

In November of 1497, the French ambassador in the Holy See commissioned one of his most famous works, the Pietà and the contract was agreed upon in August of the following year. The contemporary opinion about this work – "a revelation of all the potentialities and force of the art of sculpture" – was summarized by Vasari: "It is certainly a miracle that a formless block of stone could ever have been reduced to a perfection that nature is scarcely able to create in the flesh."

In Rome, Michelangelo lived near the church of Santa Maria di Loreto. Here, according to the legend, he fell in love with Vittoria Colonna, marchioness of Pescara and a poet. His house was demolished in 1874, and the remaining architectural elements saved by the new proprietors were destroyed in 1930. Today a modern reconstruction of Michelangelo's house can be seen on the Janiculum hill. It is also during this period that skeptics allege Michelangelo executed the sculpture Laocoön and His Sons which resides in the Vatican. , completed by Michelangelo in 1504, is one of the most renowned works of the Renaissance.]]

Statue of David

Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1499–1501. Things were changing in the republic after the fall of anti-Renaissance Priest and leader of Florence, Girolamo Savonarola (executed in 1498) and the rise of the gonfaloniere Piero Soderini. He was asked by the consuls of the Guild of Wool to complete an unfinished project begun 40 years earlier by Agostino di Duccio: a colossal statue portraying David as a symbol of Florentine freedom, to be placed in the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. Michelangelo responded by completing his most famous work, the Statue of David in 1504. This masterwork, created out of a marble block from the quarries at Carrara that had already been worked on by an earlier hand, definitively established his prominence as a sculptor of extraordinary technical skill and strength of symbolic imagination.

Also during this period, Michelangelo painted the Holy Family and St John, also known as the Doni Tondo or the Holy Family of the Tribune: it was commissioned for the marriage of Angelo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi and in the 17th century hung in the room known as the Tribune in the Uffizi. He also may have painted the Madonna and Child with John the Baptist, known as the Manchester Madonna and now in the National Gallery, London.

Sistine Chapel ceiling

; the work took approximately four years to complete (1508–1512)]] In 1505 Michelangelo was invited back to Rome by the newly elected Pope Julius II. He was commissioned to build the Pope's tomb. Under the patronage of the Pope, Michelangelo had to constantly stop work on the tomb in order to accomplish numerous other tasks. Because of these interruptions, Michelangelo worked on the tomb for 40 years. The tomb, of which the central feature is Michelangelo's statue of Moses, was never finished to Michelangelo's satisfaction. It is located in the Church of S. Pietro in Vincoli in Rome.

During the same period, Michelangelo took the commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which took approximately four years to complete (1508–1512). According to Michelangelo's account, Bramante and Raphael convinced the Pope to commission Michelangelo in a medium not familiar to the artist. This was done in order that he, Michelangelo, would suffer unfavorable comparisons with his rival Raphael, who at the time was at the peak of his own artistry as the primo fresco painter. However, this story is discounted by modern historians on the grounds of contemporary evidence, and may merely have been a reflection of the artist's own perspective.

Michelangelo was originally commissioned to paint the 12 Apostles against a starry sky, but lobbied for a different and more complex scheme, representing creation, the Downfall of Man and the Promise of Salvation through the prophets and Genealogy of Christ. The work is part of a larger scheme of decoration within the chapel which represents much of the doctrine of the Catholic Church.

The composition eventually contained over 300 figures and had at its center nine episodes from the Book of Genesis, divided into three groups: God's Creation of the Earth; God's Creation of Humankind and their fall from God's grace; and lastly, the state of Humanity as represented by Noah and his family. On the pendentives supporting the ceiling are painted twelve men and women who prophesied the coming of the Jesus. They are seven prophets of Israel and five Sibyls, prophetic women of the Classical world.

Among the most famous paintings on the ceiling are The Creation of Adam, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the Great Flood, the Prophet Isaiah and the Cumaean Sibyl. Around the windows are painted the ancestors of Christ.

Under Medici popes in Florence

(centre) with Rachel and Leah on his sides]] In 1513 Pope Julius II died and his successor Pope Leo X, of the Medici family, commissioned Michelangelo to reconstruct the façade of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence and to adorn it with sculptures. Michelangelo agreed reluctantly. The three years Michelangelo spent in creating drawings and models for the facade, as well as attempting to open a new marble quarry at Pietrasanta specifically for the project, were among the most frustrating in his career, as work was abruptly canceled by his financially strapped patrons before any real progress had been made. The basilica lacks a façade to this day.

Apparently not the least embarrassed by this turnabout, the Medici later came back to Michelangelo with another grand proposal, this time for a family funerary chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo. Fortunately for posterity, this project, occupying the artist for much of the 1520s and 1530s, was more fully realized. . Saint Bartholomew is shown holding the knife of his martyrdom and his flayed skin. The face of the skin is recognizable as Michelangelo.]] In 1527, the Florentine citizens, encouraged by the sack of Rome, threw out the Medici and restored the republic. A siege of the city ensued, and Michelangelo went to the aid of his beloved Florence by working on the city's fortifications from 1528 to 1529. The city fell in 1530 and the Medici were restored to power. Completely out of sympathy with the repressive reign of the ducal Medici, Michelangelo left Florence for good in the mid-1530s, leaving assistants to complete the Medici chapel.

Last works in Rome

The fresco of The Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Clement VII, who died shortly after assigning the commission. Paul III was instrumental in seeing that Michelangelo began and completed the project. Michelangelo labored on the project from 1534 to October 1541. The work is massive and spans the entire wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. The Last Judgment is a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the apocalypse; where the souls of humanity rise and are assigned to their various fates, as judged by Christ, surrounded by the Saints.

Once completed, the depictions of nakedness in the papal chapel was considered obscene and sacrilegious, and Cardinal Carafa and Monsignor Sernini (Mantua's ambassador) campaigned to have the fresco removed or censored, but the Pope resisted. After Michelangelo's death, it was decided to obscure the genitals ("Pictura in Cappella Ap.ca coopriantur"). So Daniele da Volterra, an apprentice of Michelangelo, was commissioned to cover with perizomas (briefs) the genitals, leaving unaltered the complex of bodies. When the work was restored in 1993, the conservators chose not to remove all the perizomas of Daniele, leaving some of them as a historical document, and because some of Michelangelo’s work was previously scraped away by the touch-up artist's application of “decency” to the masterpiece. A faithful uncensored copy of the original, by Marcello Venusti, can be seen at the Capodimonte Museum of Naples. , although it was unfinished when he died.]] Censorship always followed Michelangelo, once described as "inventor delle porcherie" ("inventor of obscenities", in the original Italian language referring to "pork things"). The infamous "fig-leaf campaign" of the Counter-Reformation, aiming to cover all representations of human genitals in paintings and sculptures, started with Michelangelo's works. To give two examples, the marble statue of Cristo della Minerva (church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome) was covered by added drapery, as it remains today, and the statue of the naked child Jesus in Madonna of Bruges (The Church of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium) remained covered for several decades. Also, the plaster copy of the David in the Cast Courts (Victoria and Albert Museum) in London, has a fig leaf in a box at the back of the statue. It was there to be placed over the statue's genitals so that they would not upset visiting female royalty.

In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed architect of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, and designed its dome. As St. Peter's was progressing there was concern that Michelangelo would pass away before the dome was finished. However, once building commenced on the lower part of the dome, the supporting ring, the completion of the design was inevitable. Michelangelo died in Rome at the age of 88 (three weeks before his 89th birthday). His body was brought back from Rome for interment at the Basilica of Santa Croce, fulfilling the maestro's last request to be buried in his beloved Tuscany.

Last sketch found

On 7 December 2007, Michelangelo's red chalk sketch for the dome of St Peter's Basilica, his last before his death in 1564, was discovered in the Vatican archives. It is extremely rare, since he destroyed his designs later in life. The sketch is a partial plan for one of the radial columns of the cupola drum of Saint Peter's.

Disputed works

A number of works attributed to Michelangelo are disputed. These include the paintings, The Manchester Madonna, the London Deposition, and The Torment of Saint Anthony, newly acquired by the Kimbell Art Museum, USA (previously attributed to "Workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio", and having had two previously unsuccessful attempts at attribution to the hand of Michelangelo). In addition, the Cupid sculpture "rediscovered" in the French Embassy in New York in 1996 (now on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art) has also been inconclusively attributed to Michelangelo.

Architectural work

Michelangelo worked on many projects that had been started by other men, most notably in his work at St Peter's Basilica, Rome. The Campidoglio, designed by Michelangelo during the same period, rationalized the structures and spaces of Rome's Capitoline Hill. Its shape, more a rhomboid than a square, was intended to counteract the effects of perspective. The major Florentine architectural projects by Michelangelo are the unexecuted façade for the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence and the Medici Chapel (Capella Medicea) and Laurentian Library there, and the fortifications of Florence. The major Roman projects are St. Peter's, Palazzo Farnese, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, the Sforza Chapel (Capella Sforza) in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, Porta Pia and Santa Maria degli Angeli.

Laurentian Library

Around 1530 Michelangelo designed the Laurentian Library in Florence, attached to the church of San Lorenzo. He produced new styles such as pilasters tapering thinner at the bottom, and a staircase with contrasting rectangular and curving forms.

Medici Chapel

Michelangelo designed the Medici Chapel and in fact used his own discretion to create its composition. The Medici Chapel has monuments in it dedicated to certain members of the Medici family. Michelangelo never finished the project, so his pupils later completed it. Lorenzo the Magnificent was buried at the entrance wall of the Medici Chapel. Sculptures of the "Madonna and Child" and the Medici patron saints Cosmas and Damian were set over his burial. The "Madonna and child" was Michelangelo's own work. The concealed corridor with wall drawings of Michelangelo under the New Sacristy discovered in 1976.

Personal life

In his personal life, Michelangelo was abstemious. He told his apprentice, Ascanio Condivi: "However rich I may have been, I have always lived like a poor man." Condivi said he was indifferent to food and drink, eating "more out of necessity than of pleasure" He may not have minded, since he was by nature a solitary and melancholy person. He had a reputation for being bizzarro e fantastico because he "withdrew himself from the company of men."

Sexuality

, accomplished.]] While clearly having a keen appreciation for the nude form resurgent in the Renaissance, fundamental to Michelangelo's art is his love of male beauty which seems to have particularly attracted him both aesthetically and emotionally. In part, this was an expression of the Renaissance idealization of masculinity. But in Michelangelo's art there is clearly a sensual response to this aesthetic.

The sculptor's expressions of love have been characterized as both Neoplatonic and openly homoerotic; recent scholarship seeks an interpretation which respects both readings, yet is wary of drawing absolute conclusions. One example of the conundrum is Cecchino dei Bracci, whose death, only a year after their meeting in 1543, inspired the writing of forty eight funeral , which by some accounts allude to a relationship that was not only romantic but physical as well: :{| | style="width:160px;"|La carne terra, e qui l'ossa mia, prive de' lor begli occhi, e del leggiadro aspetto fan fede a quel ch'i' fu grazia nel letto, che abbracciava, e' n che l'anima vive. |The flesh now earth, and here my bones, Bereft of handsome eyes, and jaunty air, Still loyal are to him I joyed in bed, Whom I embraced, in whom my soul now lives. |} According to others, they represent an emotionless and elegant re-imagining of Platonic dialogue, whereby erotic poetry was seen as an expression of refined sensibilities (Indeed, it must be remembered that professions of love in 16th century Italy were given a far wider application than now). Some young men were street wise and took advantage of the sculptor. Febo di Poggio, in 1532, peddled his charms—in answer to Michelangelo's love poem he asks for money. Earlier, Gherardo Perini, in 1522, had stolen from him shamelessly. Michelangelo defended his privacy above all. When an employee of his friend Niccolò Quaratesi offered his son as apprentice suggesting that he would be good even in bed, Michelangelo refused indignantly, suggesting Quaratesi fire the man.

The greatest written expression of his love was given to Tommaso dei Cavalieri (c. 1509–1587), who was 23 years old when Michelangelo met him in 1532, at the age of 57. Cavalieri was open to the older man's affection: I swear to return your love. Never have I loved a man more than I love you, never have I wished for a friendship more than I wish for yours. Cavalieri remained devoted to Michelangelo until his death.

Michelangelo dedicated to him over three hundred sonnets and , constituting the largest sequence of poems that he composed. Some modern commentators assert that the relationship was merely a Platonic affection, even suggesting that Michelangelo was seeking a surrogate son. However, their homoerotic nature was recognized in his own time, so that a decorous veil was drawn across them by his grand nephew, Michelangelo the Younger, who published an edition of the poetry in 1623 with the gender of pronouns changed. John Addington Symonds, the early British homosexual activist, undid this change by translating the original sonnets into English and writing a two-volume biography, published in 1893.

The sonnets are the first large sequence of poems in any modern tongue addressed by one man to another, predating Shakespeare's sonnets to the fair youth by fifty years. {| |- | :I feel as lit by fire a cold countenance :That burns me from afar and keeps itself ice-chill; :A strength I feel two shapely arms to fill :Which without motion moves every balance. ::— (Michael Sullivan, translation) |}

Late in life he nurtured a great love for the poet and noble widow Vittoria Colonna, whom he met in Rome in 1536 or 1538 and who was in her late forties at the time. They wrote sonnets for each other and were in regular contact until she died.

It is impossible to know for certain whether Michelangelo had physical relationships (Condivi ascribed to him a "monk-like chastity"), but through his poetry and visual art we may at least glimpse the arc of his imagination.

See also

Michelangelo phenomenon

Renaissance art

Restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescoes

The asteroid 3001 Michelangelo and a crater on the planet Mercury were named after Michelangelo.

The 1965 feature film The Agony and the Ecstasy features the story of Michelangelo and his travails in painting the Sistine Chapel. He is portrayed in the film by Charlton Heston.

Portraits of Michelangelo

Footnotes

:a. Michelangelo's father marks the date as 6 March 1474 in the Florentine manner ab Incarnatione. However, in the Roman manner, ab Nativitate, it is 1475. :b. Sources disagree as to how old Michelangelo was when he departed for school. De Tolnay writes that it was at ten years old while Sedgwick notes in her translation of Condivi that Michelangelo was seven. :c. The Strozzi family acquired the sculpture Hercules. Filippo Strozzi sold it to Francis I in 1529. In 1594, Henry IV installed it in the Jardin d'Estang at Fontainebleau where it disappeared in 1713 when the Jardin d'Estange was destroyed. :d. Vasari makes no mention of this episode and Paolo Giovio's Life of Michelangelo indicates that Michelangelo tried to pass the statue off as an antique himself.

References

Further reading

Einem, Herbert von (1973). Michelangelo. Trans. Ronald Taylor. London: Methuen.

Gilbert, Creighton (1994). Michelangelo On and Off the Sistine Ceiling. New York: George Braziller.

Hibbard, Howard (1974). Michelangelo. New York: Harper & Row.

Hirst, Michael and Jill Dunkerton. (1994) The Young Michelangelo: The Artist in Rome 1496–1501. London: National Gallery Publications.

Pietrangeli, Carlo, et al. (1994). The Sistine Chapel: A Glorious Restoration. New York: Harry N. Abrams

Saslow, James M. (1991). The Poetry of Michelangelo: An Annotated Translation. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Seymour, Charles, Jr. (1972). Michelangelo: The Sistine Chapel Ceiling. New York: W. W. Norton.

Summers, David (1981). Michelangelo and the Language of Art. Princeton University Press.

Tolnay, Charles de. (1964). The Art and Thought of Michelangelo. 5 vols. New York: Pantheon Books.

Wilde, Johannes (1978). Michelangelo: Six Lectures. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

External links

Where to find Michelangelo's works in Florence

"The Divine Michelangelo – Timeline of Michelangelo's Life and Major Works"

Michelangelo in the "A World History of Art"

Michelangelo in the "Vatican Secret Archives" A letter by Michelangelo

Photographs of details at the Campidoglio

The Digital Michelangelo Project

The BP Special Exhibition Michelangelo Drawings – closer to the master

Michelangelo's Drawings: Real or Fake? How to decide if a drawing is by Michelangelo.

Models he used to make his sculptures and paintings

, suggesting Michelangelo's coded use of his knowledge of anatomy.

"Michelangelo: The Man and the Myth"

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