Michelangelo

The Documented Life

Michelangelo is simultaneously the most mythologized artist of the Renaissance and the most thoroughly documented. While biographies like Giorgio Vasari's and Ascanio Condivi's have shaped the public perception of the solitary genius, modern scholars rely on his massive correspondence (*Carteggio*), poetry (*Rime*), and surviving drawings.

This catalog organizes open-access public-domain records for Michelangelo's paintings, drawings, sculptures, architectural elevations, and workshop studies, gathering photographic documentation from Wikimedia Commons and major European museum collections for comparative visual analysis alongside Leonardo.

Sculptural Draftsmanship

Michelangelo's graphic corpus is marked by a deep understanding of human anatomy and three-dimensional form. His red chalk studies for the Sistine Chapel ceiling (such as the *Libyan Sibyl* in the Met) and his highly finished "presentation drawings" for friends represent the peak of graphic *disegno*.