I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free
Born in Caprese, Republic of Florence. Mother Francesca died when I was six. Father sent me to a wet nurse in a family of stonecutters -- I joked that I sucked marble dust with my mother's milk. I carved the Pieta at 24. David at 29. Then Pope Julius II made me paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling -- 12,000 square feet, lying on my back on scaffolding for four years. I was a sculptor forced to paint. It's the most famous ceiling in the world. I also designed the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, the largest dome in Christendom. I worked until I was 88. I never married. I slept in my boots. I ate bread and wine at my workbench. The marble was enough.
Sculpture
Art · 70y
Painting
Art · 60y
Architecture
Engineering · 40y
Poetry
Art · 50y
Stubbornness
Other · 88y
Point chisel, tooth chisel, flat chisel, claw chisel, rasps, rifflers. The same tool types I used on the David. Carbide-tipped for modern marble. I'll show you how to find the figure hiding in the sto...
€10 per_day
Learn buon fresco: painting directly onto wet plaster so the pigment becomes part of the wall. You have about 8 hours before it dries. No corrections. No undo button. The technique is 3,000 years old ...
€20 per_session
Aluminum scaffolding tower, adjustable height up to 6 meters. Platform, guard rails, locking casters. I spent 4 years on scaffolding painting the Sistine Chapel. You probably need it for a weekend to ...
€15 per_day
Exported from BorrowHood · 2026-03-09