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Michelangelo (1475-1564) Home Michelangelo l Early Life in Florence l First Roman Sojourn l First Return to Florence The Sistine Chapel Ceiling l The Tomb of Julius II l The Laurentian Library l The Medici Tombs The Last Judgment l The Campidoglio l Dome of St. Peter's Basilica Michelangelo's Achievements The Laurentian Library The project for the Julius Tomb required architectural planning, but Michelangelo's activity as an architect only began in earnest in 1519, with the plan for the facade (never executed) of the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence, where he had once again taken up residence. In the 1520s he also designed the Laurentian Library and its elegant entrance hall adjoining San Lorenzo, although these structures were finished only decades later. Michelangelo took as a starting point the wall articulation of his Florentine predecessors, but he infused it with the same surging energy that characterizes his sculpture and painting. Instead of being obedient to classical Greek and Roman practices, Michelangelo used motifs—columns, pediments, and brackets—for a personal and expressive purpose. Michelangelo, a partisan of the republican faction, participated in the 1527-29 war against the Medici and supervised Florentine fortifications. The Creation of the Heavens (detail), 1508-12, from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel  click on image to enlarge

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