The making of Michelangelo

Michelangelo’s mother had died when he was still a child, and so he was sent to live with his nurse and her quarryman husband. Michelangelo used to run around in the quarry and sketch figures of charcoal on the whole pieces of marble, which he then carved. His father remarried and he was called back. But he used to escape to the quarry. Francesco Granacci, one of the apprentices of the prominent Florentine painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, saw the potential of Michelangelo and strongly urged him to join Ghirlandaio, which Michelangelo did. ‘Head of Brutus’ happens to be one of the most phenomenal creations of Michelangelo. When the structure was carved out, it was unanimously felt by Michelangelo and his fellow quarryman that it was already there. Michelangelo had only perfected it.