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Primary sourceArtifactbegun 1506

St. Peter's Basilica

begun 1506

The great Vatican church whose dome and later design Michelangelo conceived as chief architect late in his life.

As chief architect from age 71, Michelangelo redesigned the basilica and conceived its great dome.

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Front facade of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome under a clear blue sky. Large columns and pilasters rise to a balustrade lined with statues, with a dome and lantern behind. Colonnades flank the square on both sides.
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, begun 1506. Designed in part by Michelangelo.

About this source

What it is

St. Peter's Basilica is a vast Renaissance church in Vatican City, begun in 1506 to replace an older basilica. It was designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, and Carlo Maderno, with later additions by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Construction continued over more than a century.

Why it matters

Michelangelo became chief architect late in life, at age 71, and redesigned the building's plan and conceived its great dome, considered his supreme architectural achievement. The basilica stands as one of the most important buildings of Renaissance architecture and a central site of the Catholic Church.

Look closer

  • Why might it have taken more than a century, and several different architects, to complete this building?
  • What does the scale of the building and its dome tell you about the ambitions of the popes who commissioned it?
  • How might Michelangelo's design have changed between his vision and what was actually built after his death?

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Full-length white marble statue of a nude young male figure standing in contrapposto, one hand raised to his shoulder, the other at his side, set on a rough base within a domed, pale-walled room.Sculpture

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David

Michelangelo · 1501-1504

A printed plate, numbered 106, in a bound album showing an engraved elevation of a wall tomb with architectural niches, statues, reclining figures, a central arched niche with a seated figure, and a circular medallion at top. Handwritten German caption below reads Entwurf für ein medicäisches Doppelgrab (Orig. in d. Albertina).Artifact

Primary source

Elevation of a Planned Double Tomb for the Magnifici, Medici Chapel

unbestimmt

Wide view of the painted Sistine Chapel ceiling: a grid of framed panels with figures, nude and draped, with pendentives and lunettes in the corners, painted in warm earthy tones.Painting

Primary source

Sistine Chapel ceiling

Michelangelo · 1508-1512

Michelangelo's fresco The Last Judgment on a wall. Christ sits at center in a blue halo surrounded by nude figures. Angels blow trumpets above, the dead rise from the ground, and figures fall into a boat and down toward hell at the bottom.Painting

Secondary source

The Last Judgment

Michelangelo · 1536-1541

Engraved reproduction plate, page numbered 25, of Michelangelo's seated marble statue of Moses in an ornate architectural niche. Moses has a long flowing beard and horns, holds his beard with one hand, and rests on a pedestal inscribed with Latin text. Pencil caption at lower left reads S. Pietro in Vincoli.Photograph

Secondary source

Statue of Moses by Michelangelo, San Pietro in Vincoli

unbestimmt

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