March 6, 1475: Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti, famous for his paintings (the Sistine Chapel), sculpture (David), and architecture (the rebuilding of St. Peters Cathedral), is born in Caprese. Quotes: The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark. I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. A man paints with his brains and not with his hands. Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. Genius is eternal patience. What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed? A beautiful thing never gives so much pain as does failing to hear and see it. The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection. I am still learning. Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish. If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldnt seem so wonderful at all. Faith in oneself is the best and safest course. Death and love are the two wings that bear the good man to heaven. Many believe - and I believe - that I have been designated for this work by God. In spite of my old age, I do not want to give it up; I work out of love for God and I put all my hope in Him. If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master. I am a poor man and of little worth, who is laboring in that art that God has given me in order to extend my life as long as possible. I live and love in Gods peculiar light. My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earths loveliness. Every beauty which is seen here by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come. There is no greater harm than that of time wasted. If in my youth I had realized that the sustaining splendour of beauty of with which I was in love would one day flood back into my heart, there to ignite a flame that would torture me without end, how gladly would I have put out the light in my eyes. The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in ones self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course. The marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has. Good painting is the kind that looks like sculpture. Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 13:41:33 +0000
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