Michelangelo Buonarroti was born in Caprese, Tuscany on March 6, 1475. He was the second of five brothers. As his mother was greatly ill and frail, he was given to a wet nurse who lived in a family of stonecutters. Even though he was very young, he loved the idea of stonecutting, the craft of hammer and chisel. However, when he told his father of his wishes, his father was enraged as he thought that an artist’s life was one full of labor. Sadly, his mother soon passed away, and the boy was only six years old. This and other past events made life very grim and sad for him. He had to maintain a taciturn disposition, which eventually made him very thin-skinned and fierce. As Michelangelo grew older, it was clear to his father that he was a very intelligent boy. Immediately, his father sent Michelangelo to a man named Francesco Galeota who taught the boy grammar. During his time studying the principles of Latin, he became great friends with Francesco Granacci, a boy six years older than him. At the time, Francesco was also the apprentice of the master painter Domenico Ghirlandaio. When the boy heard that Michelangelo loved art despite his father, he encouraged Michelangelo to follow his dreams. With Francesco’s help, he became another apprentice of Domenico. …show more content…
As a result, the boy was often punished for learning art. However, his father eventually gave in when Domenico and his brother paid father and son for Michelangelo’s artwork. After a while, he did not get along well with Domenico, so he left to study art at the sculpture school of Bertoldo di Giovanni. Bertoldo was great friends of the art curator Lorenzo de’ Medici, “the Magnificent.” As Michelangelo continued to practice, his works became better and better until it even impressed Lorenzo. Finally, at the age of sixteen, he created two of his best artworks: the Battle of the Centaurs and Madonna of the