Michelangelo Buonarrotti

1475 - 1564

Michelangelo came from a minor aristocratic family that had fallen on hard times but still put on airs. His father would berate him for wasting his time drawing, but the boy refused to stop. By the time he was 25, Michelangelo Buonarroti was considered the greatest of all sculptors yet he still had not won the approval of his father, who believed carving stone was menial work.

Michelangelo often labored all day without a break, eating crusts of bread as he worked. At night, he would work by the light of a candle that he fastened to his head to leave his hands free. Michelangelo was famous for his sharp tongue, but he was also deeply kind and loyal to his friends and devoutly religious. He lived to be 88, writing poetry and working as a sculptor, painter, architect and engineer until the end of his long life. People said that even as an old man, he could carve faster and better than three ordinary sculptors.