Michelangelo made his way home through Santa Croce, past the leather shops for which the quarter was known. He thought of his mother, wishing he could tell her of Ghirlandaio’s offer. She would have been so pleased and happy. She might also have helped convince his father to accept the master painter’s offer. Instead Michelangelo [...]
Michelangelo’s First Drawing Teacher
Granacci passed on to Michelangelo the drawings he had learned from: the same portfolio that Domenico Ghirlandaio used to teach all of his apprentice painters. Michelangelo got to work. He copied all the drawings in the portfolio, improving quickly. Soon he really could draw as well as Granacci, and then better. Granacci was one of [...]
Meeting Francesco Granacci
One morning, an 18-year-old apprentice of Ghirlandaio’s was preparing the walls in the Tornabuoni Chapel for the day’s work. The young man, Franceso Granacci, had trained for years, and was skilled enough to be trusted with this task. As Granacci began to prepare the plaster, he caught sight of a 12-year-old boy halfway down the [...]
