We just learned about Michelangelo's sculpture of Bacchus.
Another famous sculpture by Michelangelo was the Piccolomini Altarpiece.
In 1481 AD a famous church leader named Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini wanted to make a really big sculpture with lots of statues to honor the Poccolomini family name.
It was supposed to have 14 sculptures on it, and he asked sculptor Andrea Bregno to do it.
He worked on it for 4 years, but then had to quit because the work was too hard for him at the age of 70.
Next the artist Pietro Torrigiano was hired to work on the altarpiece, but he only made one sculpture and then quit.
Tdeschini tried for another artist, and hired Michelangelo to make the rest of the sculptures.
At the same time, many other people saw the Pietà sculpture he had just finished and were so amazed and also wanted him to sculpt other things.
He started working on sculptures for this Piccolomini Alterpiece, but when he was offered the chance to make the statue of David he didn't spend much time on this altarpiece because he liked that other sculpture better.
After he had worked for a few years on the David sculpture, the person who hired him died.
When Todeschini died, his family asked Michelangelo to just do 4 sculptures so they could be finished.
He did sculptures of Saint Peter, Saint Augustine, Saint Paul, Saint Gregory.
(from: wikipedia - piccolomini altarpiece)
Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Vision of Peace - Carl Milles
