1475–1564 · Artists

Michelangelo signature

Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet, 1475–1564

Inspired by Michelangelo’s signature

A rendering in a modern handwriting font, made for this page. It is not the real signature; see where to view the original below. Where to see the original ↓Style: Parisienne, slant 6°

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Parisienne · 6°

Who Michelangelo was

Michelangelo Buonarroti was born in Caprese, in Tuscany, in 1475 and died in Rome in 1564, almost 89. He carved the David and the Pietà, painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the Last Judgment, designed the dome of St Peter’s, and wrote some three hundred poems.

He thought of himself first as a sculptor, and his one signature on a work of art is cut in marble.

The story of the signature

The Pietà in St Peter’s Basilica, carved in the late 1490s when he was in his early twenties, is the only work Michelangelo signed. Across the sash that runs over the Virgin’s chest he carved in capital letters MICHAEL·A[N]GELVS·BONAROTVS·FLORENT[INVS]·FACIEBA[T]: “Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florentine, was making this.” The imperfect tense, “was making”, echoes a formula that the Roman writer Pliny the Elder attributed to ancient Greek artists, as a modest way of saying a work could always be improved.

Giorgio Vasari, his younger contemporary and biographer, tells the story behind it: Michelangelo overheard visitors crediting the statue to another sculptor and came back at night to carve his name. It is a good story, but it rests on Vasari’s account alone and should be read as such.

On paper Michelangelo wrote a clear Italian humanist hand, and his many surviving letters, most of them in the Casa Buonarroti in Florence, are usually signed in the Tuscan spelling “Michelagniolo”. While he was painting the Sistine ceiling he sometimes signed “Michelagniolo scultore”, sculptor, a pointed reminder of what he felt his real art was.

What makes it distinctive

Roman capitals in stone

The Pietà signature is carved in classical capitals, spaced by dots, like an ancient inscription.

The “was making” formula

FACIEBAT rather than FECIT, an imperfect tense borrowed from antiquity.

Michelagniolo

His own spelling of his name in letters, with the Tuscan “gn”.

Title as statement

“Scultore” after his name made a point about his identity.

How to give your signature a similar feel

For a carved, classical feel, type your name in capitals and keep the Slant at 0° in the Type tab of the signature generator. Spaced capitals with a dot between words echo the Pietà sash.
For a letter-style signature, Parisienne or Italianno with a Slant of about 6° gives a humanist Italian line.
Use the spelling of your name that you prefer, even if it is not the official one. Michelagniolo did.
If your work defines you, add it after your name on creative pieces, the way he added “scultore”.

Where to see the original

These links lead to archives, libraries, museums and Wikimedia Commons.

Wikimedia Commons: the signature on the sash of the Pietà, St Peter’s Basilica (photograph)

Questions about Michelangelo’s signature

Which work did Michelangelo sign?

Only the Pietà in St Peter’s Basilica. His name is carved on the sash across the Virgin’s chest.

Why did he sign the Pietà?

According to Vasari, he heard visitors attribute it to another sculptor and carved his name at night. The story comes only from Vasari, so it is best treated as an anecdote.

How did Michelangelo sign his letters?

Usually “Michelagniolo”, sometimes with “Buonarroti” and, during the Sistine Chapel years, sometimes with “scultore”.