Today we think of Michelangelo Buonarroti with reverence, as a man who held complete artistic license over his many masterworks. Yes, for the better part of his 88 years he was a thundering talent who was in high demand and commanded high fees while creating spectacular sculptures, paintings, and architectural designs for the most prestigious clients of the day. While researching my new book, Saving Michelangelo’s Dome, it was surprising to learn of his reluctance to assume the role of chief architect of St. Peter’s Basilica, in Rome, and the subsequent struggles he went through, bitterly and every day, to maintain control of the construction.
Michelangelo had a reputation for being uncompromising, stubborn, and temperamental to the point of obstinance. Yet his clients put up with him because he was the greatest artist they had ever seen. He had started young—with an inborn talent that was obvious by his early teens while he was training to be a sculptor at Lorenzo de’ Medici’s school at the Garden of San Marco, in Florence. That was where his genius quickly emerged and began to flourish.
