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Michelangelo Buonarroti was born on 6 March 1475 in Caprese near Florence Italy where his father was the local magistrate.
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The Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo studies as an apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio in Florence. Domenico Ghirlandaio, was an Italian Renaissance painter born in Florence.
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Michelangelo sculpts the PIETÀ for the French cardinal Jean de Billheres but receives no other important commissions for nearly two years.
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He leaves Rome in anger on learning that the Pope has given up the tomb project, and takes refuge in Florence under the protection of its governor, Piero Soderini. In November he goes to Bologna to apologize to the Pope, who pardons him and orders a colossal bronze statue of himself.
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Michelangelo's next major commission was the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. It was recognised at once as a great work of art and from then on Michelangelo was regarded as Italy's greatest living artist.
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Pope Julius dies. Michelangelo signs a new contract for his tomb with his heirs. He works on the MOSES and the so-called “Slaves”: The DYING SLAVE and the REBELLIOUS SLAVE (now in the Louvre, Paris).
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In 1534, Michelangelo returned to Rome where he was commissioned to paint 'The Last Judgement' on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel.
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Pope Paul III appoints him official architect of ST. PETER’S BASILICA. With the help of an assistant he completes a model of the dome in 1561.
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The Pope wants to have him buried in St. Peter’s but Michelangelo’s nephew and heir, Leonardo, takes the body back to Florence, where it is buried in Santa Croce. More than a hundred artists attend his funeral.
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Michelangelo died of natural causes at the age of 88 in 1564 after a long illness, having spent his final years working on the design and architecture of St. Peter's Basilica
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