This graduate seminar will retrace the life and afterlife of Michelangelo Buonarroti. In 1837 Eugène Delacroix named the Florentine sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, the “father of modern art.” Why? Declared “divine,” during his lifetime, Michelangelo has been celebrated as the pinnacle of artistic genius, or vilified as the very epitome of artistic excess, ever since. This course will trace his role in the formation of the cult of the modern artist in art, architecture, literature, and film. Beginning with the construction of Michelangelo’s persona by early biographers, we will ask why he came to embody the tension between the conflicting demands of artistic tradition and innovation like no other artist, and what this can tell us about art today. Each week we will closely investigate artworks in dialogue with primary sources in English translation. Secondary texts selected from the impressive literature on Michelangelo and his afterlife will be used to supplement primary materials.