History

Michelangelo: Christian History Timeline

The Life of Michelangelo

1475 Born in Caprese on March 6; family moves back to Florence, following the short stay in Caprese

1481 Mother dies in Florence

1485 Enters grammar school taught by humanist Francesco da Urbino

1488 Apprenticed in a painter’s workshop run by the Gbirlandaio brothers

1490 Decides to pursue sculpture and begins work in the Medici Gardens

1494 Leaves Florence before the expulsion of the Medici and eventually ends up in Rome in 1496

1499 Completes the St. Peter’s Pietà, which establishes his reputation in Rome

1501 Returns to Florerlce and receives commission to sculpt the David, which he completes in 1504

1504 Paints the Doni Tondo

1505 Back in Rome, he begins work on Julius U’s tomb

1508- 1512 Paints the Sistine Chapel ceiling

1519 Begins designing the Medici Chapel in Florence

1524 Commissioned to design the Laurentian Library in Florence

1527-1530 Builds fortifications for the Florentine republic

1532 Meets Tommaso Cavalieri

1535 Pope Paul Ill commissions Michelangelo to paint the Last Judgment; Michelangelo meets Vittoria Colonna; gives “presentation drawings” to Colonna and other friends

1541 Last Judgment is unveiled

1546-1550 Paints the Pauline Chapel frescoes (The Crucifixion of Peter and The Conversion of Paul)

1547 Vittoria Colonna dies; Michelangelo is appointed chief architect of the new St. Peter’s Basilica; begins the Florence Pietà that includes Nicodemus

1553 Ascanio Condivi publishes Life of Michelangelo

1560s Sculpting the Rondanini Pietà

1564 Dies on February 18 at age 89

The World of the Renaissance

1425 Masaccio paints The Trinity

1436 -1442 Fra Angelico paints Annunciation frescoes at San Marco

1438-1445 Council of Florence pursues unity with Greek Orthodox Church but ulilmately fails

1446-1450 Gutenberg invents movable type

1473 Construction of the Sistine Chapel begins under Pope Sixtus IV

1480 -1482 Girolamo Savonarola begins preaching in Florence

1486-1495 Josquin des Prez, Martin Luther’s favorite composer, is writing masses in Rome

1490 Botticelli paints Lamentation Over the Dead Christ

1491 Savonarola becomes prior of San Marco

1492 Columbus arrives in America; Lorenzo de’ Medici dies

1494French invade Italy; Medici lose control of Florence; Savonarola leads the first republic in Florence

1495 Leonardo da Vinci paints the Last Supper

1496 Savonarola excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI

1498 Savonarola burned as a heretic

1503-1506 Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa

1507 Pope,Julius II sells indulgences to fund new St. Peter’s Basilica, a practice his successor Leo X continues

1510 Raphael begins the School of Athens

1512 Medici regain power in Florence

1513 Machiavelli writes The Prince and publishes it in 1532

1516 Erasmus publishes the Greek New Testament; Thomas More publishes Utopia 1517 Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg

1519 Charles of Spain elected Holy Roman Emperor

1521 Martin Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X

1522 Spanish ship led by Magellan completes voyage around the world

1527 Sack of Rome by the troops of Emperor Charles V; Medici are again exiled from Florence; the last republic in Florence begins

1529-1530 Charles V and Pope Clement VII join forces to besiege Florence

1534 English Parliament separates the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church

1536 John Calvin publishes Institutes of the Christ fan Religion; English reformer William Tyndale is burnt at the stake

1540 Society of Jesus(Jesuits) founded

1542 Roman Inquisition

1543 Copernicus writes On the Revolution of Celestial Bodies

1545-1563 Council of Trent convenes to reform the Catholic church

1549 Cardinal Reginald Pole loses papal election; Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte becomes Pope Julius III

1550 Giorgio Vasari publishesLives of the Painters

1552 Palestrina, a composer famous for his use of polyphony, dedicates his first compositions to Pope Julius III

1555 Peace of Augsburg officially recognizes Lutheranism in Germany

1557 Pope Paul IV introduces the Index of Prohibited Books

1562 French wars of religion between Catholics and Protestants begin

1564 William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England; Galileo is born in Pisa, Italy

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today/Christian History magazine. Click here for reprint information on Christian History.

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