Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (Italian: [mikeˈlandʒelo]; March 1475 – 18 February 1564), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Considered to be the greatest living artist during his lifetime, he has since also been described as one of the greatest artists of all time. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci.

A number of Michelangelo's works in painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence. His output in every field of interest was prodigious; given the sheer volume of surviving correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century.

Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, were sculpted before the age of thirty. Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and The Last Judgment on its altar wall. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library. At the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan, the western end being finished to Michelangelo's design, the dome being completed after his death with some modification.

James Earle

Sir James Earle (1755–1817) was a celebrated British surgeon, renowned for his skill in lithotomy.

Earle was born in London. After studying medicine at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, he became the institution's assistant surgeon in 1770. Due to the temporary incapacity of one of the hospital's surgeons, Earle performed one-third of St. Bartholomew's operations between 1776 and 1784. At the end of this phenomenal feat, Earle was elected to be a surgeon on 22 May 1784 and remained until 1815. Just two years later, he was appointed surgeon-extraordinary to George III.

In March, 1794 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He was knighted in 1807. He married the daughter of Percivall Pott, the hospital's senior surgeon, and their third son, Henry Earle, also became a surgeon at St. Bartholomew's.

Earle write a memoir of Pott that was subsequently attached to his complete works (1790) and a biography of William Austin. Earle was renowned for his surgery skills, particularly in lithotomy. He also published several medical works: A Treatise on the Hydrocele (1791, with additions in 1793, 1796, and 1805), Practical Observations on the Operation for Stone (1793), A New Method of Operation for Cataract (1801), and Letter on Fractures of the Lower Limbs (1807).

Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel (/ˌsɪstiːn ˈtʃæpəl/; Latin: Sacellum Sixtinum; Italian: Cappella Sistina [kapˈpɛlla siˈstiːna]) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope, in Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna, the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored it between 1477 and 1480. Since that time, the chapel has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity. Today it is the site of the Papal conclave, the process by which a new pope is selected. The fame of the Sistine Chapel lies mainly in the frescos that decorate the interior, and most particularly the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgment by Michelangelo.

During the reign of Sixtus IV, a team of Renaissance painters that included Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Roselli, created a series of frescos depicting the Life of Moses and the Life of Christ, offset by papal portraits above and trompe l’oeil drapery below. These paintings were completed in 1482, and on 15 August 1483 Sixtus IV celebrated the first mass in the Sistine Chapel for the Feast of the Assumption, at which ceremony the chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (often shortened to TMNT or Ninja Turtles) are four fictional teenage anthropomorphic turtles who are named after four Renaissance Italian artists. They were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu. From their home in sewers of New York City, they battle petty criminals, evil overlords, mutated creatures, and alien invaders while attempting to remain hidden from society. They were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

The characters originated in comic books published by Mirage Studios before expanding into cartoon series, films, video games, toys, and other general merchandise. During the peak of the franchise's popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it gained considerable worldwide success and fame.

History

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first appeared in an American comic book published by Mirage Studios in 1984 in Dover, New Hampshire. The concept arose from a humorous drawing sketched out by Eastman during a casual evening of brainstorming and bad television with Laird. Using money from a tax refund, together with a loan from Eastman’s uncle, the young artists self-published a single-issue comic intended to parody four of the most popular comics of the early 1980s: Marvel Comics’ Daredevil and New Mutants, Dave Sim’s Cerebus, and Frank Miller’s Ronin. The TMNT comic series has been published in various incarnations by various comic book companies since 1984.