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Michelangelo Buonarroti was an Italian Renaissance artist, sculptor, architect, and poet. Born in 1475, he is widely considered to be one of the greatest artists of all time, and is best known for his masterpieces such as the Sistine Chapel ceiling, "David" and "Pieta" sculptures, and the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo was a master of multiple art forms and his works are celebrated for their technical mastery, as well as their imaginative and captivating subject matter. He was a leading figure in the development of the High Renaissance style, and his works have had a lasting impact on Western art.
Today, Michelangelo's works continue to be celebrated for their incredible beauty and innovative techniques, and can be found in major museums around the world. He remains one of the most famous and beloved artists of all time and continues to inspire new generations of artists and art lovers alike.
Michelangelo’s paintings, sculptures, and architecture are explored and admired as the children learned about his life and art. In their classroom art activity, the children focus on his architectural forms to create a facade in “marble.” Be sure to click through the student masterpieces at the top of this page.
On behalf of all the teachers and students of dePortola Elementary School, I’d like to commend you for providing an outstanding first year of Meet the Masters for our school. The quality of your program is excellent. The teachers felt their students truly learned to recognize the works and styles of the great masters that they were introduced to. We appreciated the variety of classroom art projects presented.
Our lecturer was well liked by teachers and students. She is professional and responsive to each age group of students. I also found her to be excellent as our coordinator and workshop presenter. We felt very fortunate that she was with us.
Our principal has also been enthusiastic and supportive of the Meet the Masters program. We both will always be pleased to recommend your program to other elementary schools.
Buy a track of 7 artists and teach all year long.
*Art supplies and teacher/volunteer training DVDs can be added to your order.
Painter, sculptor, architect, and poet — most artists specialize in one of these. Michelangelo did all four, often at the same time, and did each one well enough to still be studied five centuries later.
Though a simple Michelangelo biography for kids often begins with the famous frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, made by lying on scaffolding for years on end, his works of art such as “David” and “Pieta” demonstrate an entirely different set of skills: sculpting live figures in marble. Very few artists were able to shift from painting to sculpture to architecture as smoothly as Michelangelo did, and that’s probably one reason he is so highly respected even now as a Renaissance artist. When you compare Michelangelo paintings for kids with his sculptures, the difference becomes even more obvious.
Meet the Masters completely forgoes the ceiling and focuses solely on his aspect of architecture, where children construct a façade that resembles carved marble using paint powder, cotton balls, and chalk. It typically follows a few steps:
Getting that final sense of depth is really the whole point, since it forces students to think about where light would actually hit a carved surface rather than guessing at random. Highlight and shadow do most of the work here, the same visual tools Michelangelo used to make flat stone look three-dimensional.
FAQ
The Sistine Chapel ceiling and the “David” sculpture are the most recognizable starting points.
Building a marble-style facade using powdered paint, cotton balls, and chalk.
Form, highlight, and shadow, along with vocabulary like Renaissance and sculptor.
