Ludovico was very displeased. Despite his beatings, his foolish son Michelangelo wanted to be -- of all things -- a sculptor.
Fortunately for art lovers, Michelangelo Buonarroti was just as stubborn as his father.
Michelangelo was born in 1475 in Caprese, Italy, and at age 12 apprenticed with Domenico Ghirlandaio, then the most popular painter in Florence. He later studied under the sculptor Donatello and worked in Florence and Rome.
Interestingly, though he didn't consider himself a painter, he is most famous for his incredible painting, "The Creation of Adam," a depiction of God's creation of the first man, which he painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
His best known sculptures are "David," a larger-than-life depiction of the Biblical King David, and the "Pietà" (a statue of Mary holding the body of the dead Jesus).
