Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

Hello! My name is Michelangelo, and I was an artist. I was born on March 6th, 1475, in a small town in Italy. Even when I was a little boy, I didn't want to play with toys like other children. I just wanted to draw, draw, draw! My father wanted me to study grammar, but my heart belonged to art. When I was 13 years old, in 1488, I went to the city of Florence to become an apprentice, which is like a student, to a famous painter. I loved learning how to mix colors, but what I loved most was the feel of a hammer and chisel in my hands, ready to carve beautiful shapes out of stone.

My favorite thing to do was sculpt. I believed that inside every block of stone, there was a secret sculpture waiting to be set free. Around the year 1498, I carved one of my most famous statues, the 'Pietà'. It shows a mother, Mary, tenderly holding Jesus. A few years later, between 1501 and 1504, I took on my biggest challenge yet! I was given a huge block of marble that other artists thought was ruined. From it, I carved a giant, heroic statue named 'David'. He stood so tall and proud, and people in Florence were amazed that I could make cold stone look so alive.

Even though I loved sculpting best, a very important person, Pope Julius II, asked me to do a painting job in 1508. He wanted me to paint the entire ceiling of a special church called the Sistine Chapel. It was a huge, curved ceiling, high above the floor! For four long years, I lay on my back on tall wooden platforms, with paint dripping into my eyes, to cover the ceiling with incredible stories from the Bible. It was very hard work, but when I finished in 1512, the ceiling looked like a window into heaven.

I kept creating for my entire life, designing buildings and writing poems, too. I lived to be 88 years old, and my work is still here for everyone to see. Today, thousands of people travel to Italy to look at the 'David', the 'Pietà', and the amazing ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I hope my art reminds you that with passion and hard work, you can create wonderful things that last forever.