Michelangelo: First Celebrity Artist?


Madonna, Beyoncé and Michelangelo. The sculptor of David, painter of the Sistine Chapel and designer of the dome of St Peter’s cathedral, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) is one of the few artists to be recognised by his first name alone. The wildly talented Renaissance man was the original celebrity artist, says the Guardian newspaper’s art critic Jonathan Jones, in this clip from the forthcoming documentary Michelangelo: Love and Death. Shot in locations including the marble quarries of Carrara and the Vatican Museums.

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