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Authors: Benjamin Blech, Roy Doliner
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unbreakable ties would make him a lonely, melancholy, obsessive neurotic.
At only thirteen years of age, Michelangelo was already in a war of wills with his father. Ludovico wanted him to learn grammar and accounting so that he could become a member and official of the Florence wool and silk guilds—not a high ambition in life, but something respectable that the family could rely on. But Michelangelo’s love of the visual had already led to a fixation on the stonecutter’s craft, and he spent his time in the classroom sketching instead of doing his grammar and math exercises. Ludovico often punished and beat the boy but to no avail—little Michelagnolo could think of nothing other than becoming an artist. His disgusted father gave up and took him to Florence, to have him accepted as a fledgling apprentice in the bottega, or artists’ workshop, of Domenico Ghirlandaio, who had already been part of the team that had frescoed the new Sistine Chapel for Pope Sixtus IV. Ludovico’s only consolation was that his son would get twenty-four gold coins (florins) over his three-year apprenticeship, and that he himself received a small payment on the day he delivered his son to the bottega. It was a sort of paid servitude, but at least this boy who refused to learn a “useful profession” would bring a little bit of income into the family.
At thirteen, at an age when Jewish boys take on the religious responsibilities of an adult, the young Catholic Michelagnolo Buonarroti’s childhood ended. For the next several years, he was contracted to grind colors, mix plaster and paints, fix brushes, haul ladders, and do whatever else his masters required of him. His family had cast him out for a few coins. However, to his great good fortune he was now in Florence. In fifteenth-century Europe, he had arrived in the exact center of the world of culture, art, and ideas. He was entering into the heart of the Renaissance. On the one hand, his journey had just begun. On the other hand, he was home.
A VERY SPECIAL EDUCATION
I am still learning.
—MICHELANGELO
T WO THOUSAND YEARS AGO, the ancient Romans came across a low-lying area north of Rome that was cradled between two rivers. The flowing streams blessed the surrounding land with such lush vegetation that they named the place Florentia, or “flowering.” Long before Michelangelo’s arrival there, the name had evolved into Firenze—what we today know in English as the city of Florence.
The flowing together of two rivers is described by a special word in English: confluence. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, confluence has two principal meanings:
1: a coming or flowing together, meeting, or gathering at one point [a happy confluence of weather and scenery]
2 a: the flowing together of two or more streams b: the place of meeting of two streams c: the combined stream formed by conjunction
Both of these explanations aptly describe the uniqueness of medieval Florence. True, to be precise, the two rivers, the Mugnone and the much more famous Arno, do not quite meet inside Florence. However, in this one city, at one time, there flowed together so many great minds and talents that the combined streams of inspiration brought about the rebirth of Western civilization—the Renaissance.
Florence’s historic center is so small that you can still stroll across its entire length—from Santa Maria Novella to Santa Croce—in about twenty minutes. Yet, the fortuitous coming together of so many extraordinary personalities and events in this tiny area brought forth a flowering of the arts, sciences, and philosophy that still influences our world to this day.
The totally unpredictable confluence of events that set the stage for this remarkable moment in history is a fascinating story. Strangely enough, a significant part of it had its roots in Rome.
THE EXILE OF THE PAPACY AND THE RETURN TO ROME
In 1304 Pope Benedict IV, according to reliable reports of the
At only thirteen years of age, Michelangelo was already in a war of wills with his father. Ludovico wanted him to learn grammar and accounting so that he could become a member and official of the Florence wool and silk guilds—not a high ambition in life, but something respectable that the family could rely on. But Michelangelo’s love of the visual had already led to a fixation on the stonecutter’s craft, and he spent his time in the classroom sketching instead of doing his grammar and math exercises. Ludovico often punished and beat the boy but to no avail—little Michelagnolo could think of nothing other than becoming an artist. His disgusted father gave up and took him to Florence, to have him accepted as a fledgling apprentice in the bottega, or artists’ workshop, of Domenico Ghirlandaio, who had already been part of the team that had frescoed the new Sistine Chapel for Pope Sixtus IV. Ludovico’s only consolation was that his son would get twenty-four gold coins (florins) over his three-year apprenticeship, and that he himself received a small payment on the day he delivered his son to the bottega. It was a sort of paid servitude, but at least this boy who refused to learn a “useful profession” would bring a little bit of income into the family.
At thirteen, at an age when Jewish boys take on the religious responsibilities of an adult, the young Catholic Michelagnolo Buonarroti’s childhood ended. For the next several years, he was contracted to grind colors, mix plaster and paints, fix brushes, haul ladders, and do whatever else his masters required of him. His family had cast him out for a few coins. However, to his great good fortune he was now in Florence. In fifteenth-century Europe, he had arrived in the exact center of the world of culture, art, and ideas. He was entering into the heart of the Renaissance. On the one hand, his journey had just begun. On the other hand, he was home.
A VERY SPECIAL EDUCATION
I am still learning.
—MICHELANGELO
T WO THOUSAND YEARS AGO, the ancient Romans came across a low-lying area north of Rome that was cradled between two rivers. The flowing streams blessed the surrounding land with such lush vegetation that they named the place Florentia, or “flowering.” Long before Michelangelo’s arrival there, the name had evolved into Firenze—what we today know in English as the city of Florence.
The flowing together of two rivers is described by a special word in English: confluence. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, confluence has two principal meanings:
1: a coming or flowing together, meeting, or gathering at one point [a happy confluence of weather and scenery]
2 a: the flowing together of two or more streams b: the place of meeting of two streams c: the combined stream formed by conjunction
Both of these explanations aptly describe the uniqueness of medieval Florence. True, to be precise, the two rivers, the Mugnone and the much more famous Arno, do not quite meet inside Florence. However, in this one city, at one time, there flowed together so many great minds and talents that the combined streams of inspiration brought about the rebirth of Western civilization—the Renaissance.
Florence’s historic center is so small that you can still stroll across its entire length—from Santa Maria Novella to Santa Croce—in about twenty minutes. Yet, the fortuitous coming together of so many extraordinary personalities and events in this tiny area brought forth a flowering of the arts, sciences, and philosophy that still influences our world to this day.
The totally unpredictable confluence of events that set the stage for this remarkable moment in history is a fascinating story. Strangely enough, a significant part of it had its roots in Rome.
THE EXILE OF THE PAPACY AND THE RETURN TO ROME
In 1304 Pope Benedict IV, according to reliable reports of the
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