The Life and Times of
Michelangelo

Return to Florence

Michelangelo’s brother Buonarotto visited him in Rome in 1500, reporting that he was still living in penury. The St Peter's Pietà, however,  had made his name famous and he returned to Florence in 1501 in glory. The period from 1501 to 1505, the length of his Florentine stay, proved to be extremely fertile.

in 1501 Michelangelo received a commission for a sculpture of a Madonna to be placed in the church of Notre Dame in Bruges and he was invited to visit the city in 1504.

In May of the same year he received a commission from the Cardinal of Siena (later Pope Pius II) for 15 statues for the Piccolomini altar in the Cathedral of Siena. Only four were completed, those of Sts. Paul, Peter, Gregory and Pius.
In August he was given, at his request, a gigantic block of marble which had been abandoned for 36 years at the Opera del Duomo. A statue had been begun by another sculptor, but so badly, that the whole piece was given as lost. Michelangelo, however, believed it could be saved and promised to deliver a statue in two years’ time. He started work on 1 September and was careful to leave some of the signs made by the previous artist. The figure was ready in April 1504 and proved to be the gigantic David, which was initially placed in front of Palazzo Vecchio. In the XIX century it was replaced by a copy, while the original was moved to the Museo dell’Accademia.

In 1503 he began a series of the 12 apostles for the Cathedral, but only the statue of Matthew, now at the Museo dell’Accademia, was ever completed.

In 1504 he was commissioned by Pier Soderini to paint a fresco in the Council Hall, in Palazzo Vecchio, opposite the one which had been commissioned from Leonardo. Michelangelo chose as subject the Battle of Cascina. This work was actually begun in 1504 but was not finished by the time Michelangelo was called to Rome by the new Pope, Julius II, but the cartoons became an inspiration for all contemporary artists. Only a few of these are still in existence, but we do have some copies of fragments, the best one being the one in Lord Leicester's Collection  at Holkham, Norfolk. As the fresco was to represent the Florentines surprised by enemy troops while bathing in the River, it became knows as “The Bathers”. It became a highly influential work, as it stresses almost exclusively the nude human body as a means of expression.