Season 1
The Divine Michelangelo is a British documentary mini-series produced by the BBC which traces Michelangelo's development from angry young man to the pride of Rome.
The series originally aired in the UK on BBC One on 29 February, 2004. There are two hour-long episodes in the series.
The Divine Michelangelo premiered in South Africa on DStv's BBC World channel as part of its Imagination series on Saturday 19 July 2008, at 10h10.
Repeats
Saturdays: 19h10
Sundays: 03h10, 16h10
Synopsis
To produce one of the world's great masterpieces is impressive.
To create three is truly astonishing - but this is exactly what Michelangelo did five hundred years ago.
With his own hands he designed and created the most famous sculpture in the world - the David; the most awe-inspiring painting - the ceiling of the Sistine chapel; and one of the world's greatest buildings - the dome of St Peter's, the jewel in the crown of the Roman skyline.
2004 was the year that the David celebrated its 500th anniversary. To celebrate the occasion the BBC brings to life the story of one of the most gifted and tempestuous artists in history.
From a traumatic childhood, Michelangelo rose to the heady heights of artistic genius as sculptor, painter, architect and poet.
His work is on such a scale, of such awesome power and breathtaking beauty, that for centuries people couldn't believe it was created by a mortal.
Michelangelo's extraordinary life spanned almost 90 years from 1475 to 1564.
He was a complex character: at times bad-tempered and paranoid, at others generous and affectionate. His passion for art, for beauty and for God was his driving force throughout his life.
In this two-part series leading art historians debunk the many myths surrounding the artist's extraordinary life and modern-day artists attempt to recreate elements of Michelangelo's most iconic works - from tackling fresco technique through to carving a replica of the David.
This is combined with dramatic reconstructions of Michelangelo's life based on his actual words.
Filmed in Rome and Florence, with Shakespearean actor Stephen Noonan playing the artist, the series explores how Michelangelo emerged as the true embodiment of the renaissance, allegedly divinely inspired.
Episodes
Episode 1
Michelangelo's path to success was plagued with difficulties. Episode 1 traces the troubled origins of his genius, from boyhood beatings from his father, to fights with fellow artists.
His father's feeling that his obsession with art would bring disgrace to the family failed to deter the young, determined Michelangelo.
Inspiration to become a sculptor came early, when his father sent him to a wet-nurse whose husband was a stonemason.
By the time he reached his teens he showed precocious talent and at the age of 25 he was a rising star.
The tempestuous young Michelangelo made a name for himself as an art faker and his first major commission was rejected by his patron.
One night, gripped by rage and driven by a determination to ensure the world knew who he was, he carved his name across the breast of his first masterpiece, the Pietà.
Then, aged 26, he took on the seemingly impossible challenge of sculpting a colossal statue of the biblical hero, David, from one piece of flawed marble.
The towering nude, over five metres tall, took more than two years to complete but established Michelangelo as the greatest sculptor alive, immortalising him forever.
The programme shows sculptor Romolo Burati as he recreates key features of the David's face, conveying the sheer skill and craft embodied in Michelangelo's exquisite work.
Having created this great masterpiece, Michelangelo's next challenge was to design a structure to transport the sculpture, which weighed several tons, across the uneven roads without the giant crashing to the ground.
It was no mean feat even by today's standards.
To illustrate the technical skills that Michelangelo displayed, the programme enlists engineer Nick McLean to follow in Michelangelo's footsteps.
Using illustrations and a diary entry from an eye witness, he develops a structure to shift the replica David through the cobbled Italian streets.
It becomes clear that Michelangelo's commission to carve the David proved him to be not only a master sculptor, but also a thoroughly able engineer.
Episode 2
The story of Michelangelo's titanic struggle to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, one of the artistic marvels of the world, is told in the second episode of The Divine Michelangelo.
Imagine the torture of painting an area the size of a football pitch, 20 metres off the ground...
From 1508 to 1512 this is exactly what Michelangelo was forced to do by Pope Julius II who commissioned him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Michelangelo viewed it as a trap set by his enemies in the Vatican and was horrified that he would have to stoop to what he considered the lowly and inferior craft of painting.
What he really wanted to do was carve the Pope's tomb - a saga in itself, which would haunt him for years to come.
As Michelangelo confronted the huge expanse of the ceiling, he quickly ran into huge difficulties and ended up destroying his own work.
This programme explores some of the main challenges he faced by recruiting two modern fresco artists - Fleur Kelly and Leo Stevenson - to produce at a church in Leyton, east London, their own version of the iconic scene where God creates Adam.
After four years of struggle and disappointment, the Sistine Chapel ceiling was complete.
But the Pope was dissatisfied with the heavenly creation and demanded changes, such as the addition of more gold and blue, as he felt it looked too poor. Michelangelo, made ill by his trials, was not amused.
But 25 years later he did return to the Sistine Chapel to paint the fresco of The Last Judgement on the altar wall.
Having established his genius as a sculptor and painter Michelangelo went on to completely change the Roman skyline with his architectural designs.
He broke many of the accepted rules of architecture, creating terrifically original and beautiful work, culminating in the dome of St Peter's.
He was obsessed by this final project for the rest of his life. He saw it as a deeply spiritual task that would assure him a place in history and in heaven.
In his later years, Michelangelo's poetry also blossomed. Struck by true love for a young Roman nobleman named Cavalieri he was inspired to write some of his most moving verses.
When Michelangelo died at the age of 88 he left a fortune, including 8,000 gold coins in a walnut chest by his bed and numerous farms in Tuscany.
He lived a simple, frugal existence but was also the richest, and most famous, artist ever to have lived.