Michelangelo (1475–1564) was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect — someone who designs buildings — in the Renaissance, a time when art and learning in Italy grew in a new way. People still name him among the greatest artists who have ever lived. He cut stone: his huge statue of David, the young man from the Bible story, looks ready to walk. He painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome with scenes from the Old Testament; the most famous is God reaching out to Adam. He designed buildings too. His name is Italian for “Michael the Angel,” after Michael the Archangel. Though actually, in everyday talk people just say Michelangelo and picture David and that ceiling. They often mix him up with Leonardo da Vinci, who lived at the same time — but Leonardo’s famous work is the Mona Lisa, not the Sistine Chapel.