Portrait of an Artist MichelAngelo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Portrait of an Artist MichelAngelo - Essay ExampleYet, the spiritual beauty of his machinationwork defied his personality as it elevated reality to a position closer to his God. Commissioned by Popes and the richest patrons of the time, for 89 years Michelangelo defied his contradictory temperament as he channeled his pessimistic sadness and transformed his art into a symbol of hope and eternal optimism.The works of Michelangelo be possessed of been seen by millions of people as a work of transcendental spiritual beauty, but for Michelangelo it was scarcely the product of his dedication and hard work. Michelangelo had carefully laid the groundwork for his art as a studious young soldiery and a serious artist. He studied painting as a craft, philosophy, and anatomy, which would give him a deeper understanding of the form of man and his role in the creation of the universe. However, at the age of 17 he was faced with being in the commission of Piero dei Medici, a powerful leader that the people of Florence despised. Within two years Michelangelos dark and individualistic nature caused him to reject the Medici commission and flee to Bologna, which drove the artist further into depression. According to Ruvoldt, Since antiquity, melancholys link to exceptional achievement had been seen as small consolation for its considerable drawbacks, including disqualifying depression (88-89). These early hardships and setbacks would drive Michelangelo away from social contact and propel him closer to the spiritual nature of Christianity.Michelangelo would distance himself from the craft and technicalities that his training had given him in favor of searching for the spiritual component of art. He did not wish to be seen as a craftsperson or merely a technician. These were the qualities of man and art was the providence of God. This tension would further drive Michelangelo into the isolation of depression and sadness. A statue carved when Michelangelo was 19 years old, t he Bologna Angel, illustrates his frustration with the limitations of man. According to Luchs, The hands retention the candelabrum curve smoothly around it, waxy and boneless, in a thorough renunciation of the anatomical knowledge Michelangelo had recently and arduously acquired from his dissections at Santo Spirito (222). At this young age Michelangelo was already tormented by his search for spirituality in a world that was caged with the mortality of man. One of Michelangelos greatest works, the Sistine Chapel, embodies the tension among sadness and elation as well as the contrast between isolation and universal unity. Michelangelo did not employ a large staff of apprentices as was often the custom of his time, and chose to complete the task by himself. Michelangelo completed the design, the drawing, and the painting in isolation at the top of the chapel. Yet, the work that Michelangelo did on the Sistine chapel is today viewed by 3 million people that make a pilgrimage to Rome to gain a greater understanding of man as a product of their God (Romaine 23). Yet, this great work of art required the torment of loneliness and the deafening silence that his isolation provided. A committee could not have created it. Michelangelos melancholy and optimism would be played out through his pen and brush, as the work is a study in the contrast between the mortal failings of man and the perfection of spirituality.The centerpiece of the Sistine Chapel is the