Buck C. answered • 09/20/19
World History Teacher with 10 Years Teaching Experience
Michelangelo is important for many reasons. Not only is he one of the most famous Renaissance sculptures AND painters, but he helped change the status of artists both during the Renaissance and going forward. Before the Renaissance, artists were seen as craftsmen - no different than brick layers. It was a "dirty" job that you did with your hands. Michelangelo argued with this art that the artist was more like a poet than a brick layer. He declared that art was a mental skill, along with manual, that needed a certain amount of genius. He makes these arguments through his art work - including the Sistine Chapel.
