Maggie's Farm

Poet, sculptor, architect, and painter (who considered painting the lowest of arts, and even designed the fortifications of Florence of which sections still remain), Michelangelo was "discovered" by Lorenzo de Medici who took him under his wing.

He sculpted the Pieta at age 24. Image below is Michelangelo at 60. He died the year that Shakespeare was born, making it easy to remember.

TO THE SUPREME BEING

The prayers I make will then be sweet indeed,
If Thou the spirit give by which I pray:
My unassisted heart is barren clay,
Which of its native self can nothing feed:
Of good and pious works Thou art the seed,
Which quickens only where Thou say'st it may;
Unless Thou show to us Thine own true way,
No man can find it: Father! Thou must lead.
Do Thou, then, breathe those thoughts into my mind
By which such virtue may in me be bred
That in Thy holy footsteps I may tread;
The fetters of my tongue do Thou unbind,
That I may have the power to sing of Thee,
And sound Thy praises everlastingly.

This poem was translated into English by William Wordsworth (1770-1850), from this site.