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Michelangelo's Contributions to Saint Peter's |
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written
by helenhwu / 10.09.2004 |
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Michelangelo had had lived in Florence, his birth place, in most of his early years. The nonstop political unrest in Florence plus the invasion of the French King Charles VIII in 1494 had caused Michelangelo to move out of Florence. In 1496, Michelangelo had summoned to Rome, and the French King's envoy to the pope, Cardinal Jean Bilheres de Lagraulas had special religious interest, doubtless to King, on the ancient basilica of St. Peter's basilica, namely St Petronilla, the legendary daughter of St Peter and the patroness of the dauphins of France. The Cardinal wanted his tomb and with the statue of Pieta at this place. Perhaps he was under the influence and connection between the French dauphin patron and his own French nationality.
For the dome, Julius II was really serious in the recreation and reconstruction of the dome in 1505, which had been previously fallen into pieces. Nevertheless, many artists who made the design of the building were in total disagreement and all of them died before the construction could actually begin. It wasn't until Michelangelo who was at the time appointed by Pope Paul III, who desperately wanted the construction to begin and to be finished. Pope Paul III had always favored Michelangelo, not only because he helped to design part of his palace, but he also admired his character. In his mind, Michelangelo is a tough, hard working, and talented artist. Indeed, at the age of 72, Michelangelo had worked day and night on the project mostly because he wanted to satisfy his own inner spiritual resolution to move closer in faith and love to God. Thus, he had asked the pope to not pay him at all. Indeed, the money on this project was short because of the war in Parma. The construction still had to stop simply because he didn't have enough to pay the rest of the workers. Therefore, people in later generation regards Pope Paul III as the hero of the dome construction where in reality, Michelangelo was the one who had continued the project unconditionally.
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