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You are here: Home / Travel / Europe / Michelangelo Unit Study

Michelangelo Unit Study

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October 11, 2016 By Jennifer Lambert 6 Comments

We’ve traveled to Rome and Florence and studied Michelangelo’s art extensively.

Michelangelo was a true Renaissance man: sculptor, painter, poet, engineer, architect.

Michelangelo Unit Study
His memorial is in Santa Croce church in Florence:

Michelangelo's Tomb in Santa Croce

Some of our favorites:

The Doni Tondo at the Uffizi Museum in Florence.

Tondo means “in the round.” Michelangelo designed the frame, but didn’t create this one. Michelangelo hated painting, especially portrait painting.

Funny story has it that the minor nobleman who commissioned this piece for his bride’s wedding gift disliked the peasant look of the Holy Family and the nudes in the background, so refused to pay. Michelangelo had a fit and doubled the price. They went back and forth, even shouting in the streets, and all of Florence watched it like a tennis match until he finally agreed to pay.

Doni Tondo by Michelangelo
Michelangelo’s 4 Slaves or Prisoners at the Accademia Gallery in Florence:

He designed these (and the Moses) for the tomb of Pope Julius II, that was never completed.

Michelangelo’s Slaves or Prisoners
Also, St. Matthew at the Accademia Gallery in Florence:

He was commissioned to complete all 12 apostles for the city of Florence, but they were not completed after the Republic government fell.

St. Matthew by Michelangelo
Palestrina Pietà at the Accademia Gallery in Florence:

May or may not be Michelangelo. There’s very little info about it.
Palestrina Pietà
The David, of course! At Accademia Gallery.

He won a contest to create a statue for the city of Florence from a damaged block of marble that had been lying open to the elements for almost 50 years.
The David
The Deposition, also called the Florence Pietà, the Bandini Pietà or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, and thought to be a self-portrait as the face of Nicodemus. At the Duomo Museum.

Giorgio Vasari noted that Michelangelo began to work on the sculpture around the age of 72. Without commission, Michelangelo worked tirelessly into the night with just a single candle to illuminate his work. Vasari wrote that he began to work on this piece to amuse his mind and to keep his body healthy. After 8 years of working on the piece, Michelangelo would go on and attempt to destroy the work in a fit of frustration. Vasari gave several reasons why Michelangelo destroyed his Florentine pieta:

“…Either because of defects in the marble, or because the stone was so hard | that the chisel often struck sparks, or because he was too severe a judge J of his own work and could never be content with anything he did. It is | true that few of his mature works were ever completed and that those entirely finished were productions of his youth. Such were the Bacchus, the Pieta of the Madonna della F^ebbre [in Saint Peter’s], il Gigante [the David], at Florence, and the Christ Risen of the Minerva [Santa Maria sopra Minerva], which are finished to such perfection that a single grain could not be taken from them without injury. Michelangelo often said that, if he were compelled to satisfy himself, he should show little or nothing. The reason is obvious: he had attained such knowledge in art that the slightest error could not exist without his immediate dis- covery of it. But once it had been seen in public, he would never attempt to correct it, but would begin a new work, for he believed that a similar failure would not happen again. He often declared that this was the reason that the number of his finished works was so small.”
The Deposition by Michelangelo

In Rome, we stood in awe of The Pietà, in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Michelangelo's Pieta

Also, we kept putting in a Euro to light up the chapel with the statue of Moses, in St. Peter Vincoli:

Michelangelo's Moses

Shhh…we snuck a picture of the Sistine Chapel ceiling at the Vatican:

Sistine Chapel Ceiling

We love traveling to see art and history come alive!

Activities:

  • Notebooking with famous art and artists printable pages from Productive Homeschooling.
  • We made our own paints from natural materials when we reviewed Michelangelo for Kids. There are 21 educational activities in that book!
  • We made little frescoes of our own and realized how difficult it is!

Alex painted a beach scene.

Beach Scene Fresco

Katie painted a river with flowers on the bank.

Flowery Riverbank Fresco

Tori painted a fruit basket.

Fruit Bowl Fresco

In the morning, they were dry and the colors were faded. We realize how precise and complicated making the perfect consistency of plaster is for the colors to stay true. We used liquid watercolors, which probably aren’t the best for fresco-painting.

Michelangelo is one of our favorite artists of all time!

Resources:

Mixing with the Masters Mixed Media Workshop, Volume One

I also like this art website.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone.

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Filed Under: Europe, Florence, Homeschool, Italy, Rome, Travel Tagged With: art, Florence, history, Rome, travel, unit study

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Comments

  1. Mari-Anna Stålnacke says

    October 19, 2016 at 8:20 pm

    Wonderful! Good for you. Art really needs to be experienced, otherwise it’s hard to fully appreciate it. Thank you for sharing. Blessings to all of you!

    Reply
  2. Lori says

    October 21, 2016 at 3:20 am

    This is amazing, Jennifer. I agree with Mari-Anna, if you can’t experience art, you don’t fully appreciate it. Thanks for sharing this awesome unit study with Thankful Thursdays.

    Reply
  3. Alice Walters says

    October 21, 2016 at 1:31 pm

    I love this! Wish I would have had your post as a resource when te aching middle school world history last year. It was so to tie the textbook to my travels and share with urban students. Your children are twice blessed to be travelers and to have amom/teacher who effectively incorporates experiences into authentic learning.

    Reply
  4. Linda says

    October 21, 2016 at 11:38 pm

    wow! to enjoy the art you are studying first hand! or is it you are studying the art you are experiencing first hand? Whichever, than you for bringing us along on your travels!

    Reply
  5. Michelle Knight says

    October 26, 2016 at 3:09 pm

    It must be a fun field trip and study. I wish we could visit the site as well. Real experience in arts is trully amazing, because we would be able to appreciate and enjoy it sincerely. Thank you for sharing at Talk it up Thursday.

    Reply
  6. Pam says

    October 26, 2016 at 5:57 pm

    This is absolutely wonderful! What a great learning experience you provided for your kids! They won’t forget it. Thanks for sharing at #HomeMattersParty.

    Reply

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