Michelangelo Buonarroti
Michelangelo Buonarroti was one of the most famous artists in history. He was a painter, a sculptor, an architect, and a poet. He created some of the world's most beautiful and most famous paintings and statues.
Michelangelo was born in 1475 in a small Italian town near Florence and died on February 18, 1564. At the age of 12, he was apprenticed to Domenico Ghirlandaio, a well-known Italian artist. He learned to draw by copying other artists' paintings. He soon became interested in sculpture too. At the age of 21, he went to Rome and began to create the works of art that made him famous all over the world.
Michelangelo's first great work was the Pieta for St Peter's Cathedral. This statue shows Jesus Christ in the arms of the Virgin Mary after his death on the cross.
Michelangelo then went to Florence, where he produced his famous statue of David. It is 18 feet high and carved from a solid piece of marble. The statue is so lifelike that it seems ready to move. We have a copy of this statue in the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum.
At the age of 30 Michelangelo was called to Rome and worked there for the next 30 years. In 1508 he began painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. He spent more than two years lying on his back on a scaffold, painting the figures and Biblical scenes on half of the ceiling. After a long rest, he completed the second half in about a year. People consider the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to be one of the world's greatest and most amazing works of art.
Vocabulary:
all over the world – по всему миру
amazing [ə`meiziŋ] – изумительный, удивительный, ошеломляющий
architect [`a:kitekt] – архитектор
artist [`a:tist] – художник; артист, актёр
Biblical scenes [`si:nəz] – Библейские сцены
ceiling [`si:liŋ] – потолок, полог, навес
figure [`figə] – зд.: изображение, рисунок (человеческой фигуры)
painter – живописец, художник; маляр
poet – поэт
sculpter [`skΛlptə] – скульптор
sculpture [`skΛlpt∫ə] – скульптура
solid piece of marble – целый кусок мрамора
to create – зд.: создавать, творить
to be apprenticed to smb. – быть отданным кому-л. в ученики
to be carved from – быть вырезанным, высеченным из
to be lifelike – быть как живой, казаться живым
to complete – завершать, заканчивать, доводить до конца
to consider – зд.: полагать, считать
to draw (drew, drawn) – зд.: рисовать
to lie (lay, lain) – лежать
to move – двигаться
to seem – казаться
well-known – выдающийся, хорошо известный
work of art – произведение искусства
Questions:
1. What was Michelangelo Buonarroti famous for?
2. When and where was he born?
3. What was the first great work of Michelangelo?
4. What work took him more than 2 years?
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