I fell in love with Michelangelo Buonarroti when I was in high school. Specially with two of his works: the statue of David and the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
We had this arts teacher who tried to balance our free style homeworks with history of art. We went through the renaissance and I was way more dazed by Michelangelo's work than by master Da Vinci (and we know they had some sort of rivalry over who was the most brilliant one).
The history of how the Sistine Chapel ceiling was painted makes me shiver. Michelangelo took 4 years to finish it, painting over 300 figures. I can hardly believe he could extend his greatness to the entire work, although it's pretty obvious taking in count that he was an extreme perfectionist. It makes me sad that a little time after he finished that ceiling, someone (I think it was a pope) ordered another (terrible) painter to cover the character's private parts with random pieces of cloth. He was later named 'Maestro Braghettone' for this infamous work.
And as for the statue of David... it's just as amazing. Michelangelo rathered do sculptures than painting (he differed with Da Vinci on this point aswell) because he though sculpture was a superior form of art, since it's in 3D and paintings are only in 2D. Hence, he said it was simplier, and therefore, inferior.
The thing about the statue of David (and all of this statues, really) is that it... alive. I feel like it's just as alive as I am. Besides, he didn't make it proportional; he made it in a certain way that it seems right looked from downbelow. Otherwise, it looks deformed. I think that's just genius.
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