Michelangelo Buonarroti: Featured Works

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free” — Michelangelo.

Michelangelo—Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance—was an unprecedented influence on the development of Western art. Considered a prodigy in all his fields of interest, Michelangelo’s works rank among the most famous in existence. He sculpted his two best-known works, the Pietà and David, before the age of thirty, and later created the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Michelangelo instilled an awe-inspiring wonder in all of his works, which made him revered during his lifetime, and is easily described today as one of the greatest artists of all time.