Goddess of Spring #015, painted in Michelangelo’s style.

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) was an Italian High Renaissance sculptor, painter, poet and architect who was considered a legendary artist even during his lifetime.

He became an art apprentice at 13 and gained Lorenzo de’ Medici’s patronage at 14 due to his obvious talents. At 20, he tried to con an Italian Cardinal under the direction of Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici by artificially aging one of his sculptures of Cupid and passing it off as an antiquity. The Cardinal discovered the fraud but was so impressed by the sculpture that he invited Michelangelo to Rome, which began his path to fame.

He sculpted two of his most famous sculptures, “David” and “The Pieta” before 30 yrs old. At 33, he began painting the infamous paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel which took him 4 years to complete.

As reference for my painting, I used the angel behind Michelangelo’s Ezekiel (from the Sistine Chapel ceiling). I made my goddess muscular to stay true to the female figures Michelangelo painted.

“ If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all.” — Michelangelo.