Michelangelo Buonarroti was born at Caprese, Italy, the son of a local official who completely blew his top when his lad told him he wished to wield a chisel in a thoroughly meaningful and creative manner, saying that 'artists were no better than shoemakers' (some shoes). Nevertheless pop pulled strings and, at 13, Michelangelo was sending the chips flying in the sculpture garden of Lorenzo Medici the Magnificent. By the time he was 16 his clever little fingers were creating the brilliant reliefs known as the Battle of The Centaurs and the Madonna of The Stairs (this at an age when other boys are employing their manual dexterity to other effect).
Realising the importance of anatomical accuracy Michelangelo spent hours pawing over dead bodies in order to familiarise himself with their ups and downs but had to abandon the practice after catching something nasty from the putrefying flesh (and, more to the point, the neighbours were beginning to talk).
In 1492 Lorenzo Medici the Magnificent died and was replaced by Piero the 'Not In The Least Bit Impressive', who was soon given the heave-ho by his enemies. This made it necessary for Michelangelo to flee Florence for Bologna and finally to Rome where he, more or less, spent the greater part of his adult life knocking his marbles out or getting plastered according to the whim of whoever happened to be 'top of the Popes'.
His ultimate challenge came when his employers asked him to embark on a sort of large-scale 'inverted pavement art' project and, after replying 'Vat I can!', the fresco kid got busy and created what some people believe to be the eighth wonder of the world.
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