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Later Life
The latter part of the winter (1532-33), and the following spring, Michelangelo spent in Rome. He formed a life-long friendship with Tommaso de Cavalieri, to whom he dedicated many poems and drawing. Michelangelo decided to settle in Rome. In June 1533, he returned for four months to Florence and made arrangements with his assistants to finish the Medici Chapel and the Laurentian library.
In November 1533, Michelangelo went once more to Rome to work on the Julius monument, but Pope Clement insisted that he complete the decoration of the Sistine Chapel. Clement wanted him to paint the wall above the back of the altar - the subject chosen was the Last Judgment. The artist moved to Rome. He was 60 years old and had another 30 years to live, but he never saw Florence again.
On September 25, 1534, Pope Clement VII died, to be succeeded by Pope Paul III. The actual work of the painting of the Last Judgment began in 1536. It was unveiled on November 1, 1543 – almost 30 years after the unveiling of the ceiling Frescoes. The painting had an enormous influence on artists of the period but also aroused the hostility of theologians and men of letters. During this time – known as Michelangelo’s religious period – he came into contact with the widow Vittoria Colonna, Marchesa of Pescara. Michelangelo met her when he was 63, became her friend, and dedicated to her many poems and religious drawings.
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In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed by Pope Paul III to complete the Palarro Farnese – the building left incomplete by Antonio da Sangallo. Michelangelo also succeeded Sangallo as the chief architect of St. Peter’s.
In Michelangelo there was an eternal dissatisfaction – as there is in every artist – and that drained his body into that of an aged, eccentric man, sleepless, ill; the man whose restlessness sent him out before his death to wander in the pouring rain.
On February 12, 1564, Danielle da Volterra watched his master all day working on a Pieta. Two days later, Michelangelo fell ill and wandered around in the open air. After two days in bed, he |
died on February 18, 1564, in the presence of a number of friends and doctors. His body was taken to Florence, to be buried, by his nephew and heir Leonardo Buonarroti. The kingdom of arts had suffered the loss of one genius.
 
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