Michelangelo was short, with a rugged face disfigured by his broken nose, silent, solitary, touchy and irritable. He lived frugally and austerely, and even when he became a rich man continued to live like a poor one.
Michelangelo made many enemies, sometimes Quito unintentionally throughout his life. He was of a solitary disposition, more at home with his own visionary companions - the men and women of the Bible, than with the people of his own time. He was proud, independent, perhaps arrogant, and certainly no flatterer. Yet at the same time he was extremely sensitive to beauty, charm or unusual excellence in others. He could be very humble in the letters or poems, which he addressed to people whose outstanding physical or mental beauty he admired, yet, like many shy people, he could speak out sometimes with a cruel disregard for the feelings of others. In spite of this, he was fortunate enough to find friends – often devoted and faithful. His friends admired and loved him in spite of his peculiarities of temperament.
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Personal Life
All his life Michelangelo chose to live in uncomfortable conditions though he earned enough to be a wealthy lad. He was neither miser nor did he accumulate money to gloat over. All his money went either to his family or to charity.
The characteristic which revealed Michelangelo was his being loner and a person whose Social life was at minimal or zero. it was his nature that he lived with himself and his work. A group of two was also a burden for him to bear for five minutes. From time to time he employed helpers but found them unsatisfactory and uncomfortable and packed them off back to their homes.
The few letters he wrote revealed his discomforts. One of his letter |
read, "I am living here in discontent, not thoroughly well, and undergoing great fatigue, without money, and with no one to look after me." He was always occupied by the worries of his family. His father and four brothers thought him to be the head of the family and the breadwinner. At another occasion he wrote, ‘I have no friends and seek none. I have not even time enough to eat what I require.’ Unfortunately, his life seemed to revolve around his work and family. He was devoted to his father and brothers but did not seem to have close sympathy with any of them. He was a man who never seemed to have any personal life beyond canvasses and stones.
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