Michaelangelo

Rembrandt = Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

Ahhh, now I know why he's known by his first name.

Well, Michelangelo's full name is Michelangelo Buonarroti - I don't know why he is known through the ages as Michelangelo. I'm not even sure if that is a long time usage for his name, or more recent.
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/michelangelo_buonarroti.html

Many italian painters are known for the town or area where they are from originally. Caravaggio, for example, is Michelangelo Merisi (although I think there is some question if the Merisi is correct). Parmigianino's name was actually Francesco Mazzola. And so on...

Even Leonardo Da Vinci had no family name as we know it. What we consider his surname was simply the town that his family came from. Formally his name is Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci -- which means (roughly) Leonardo, son of Mr. Piero of the town of Vinci.

I believe that the penchant to call Michelangelo by his given name only is simply the result of a great artist with a singular name. Da Vinci would be known simply as Leonardo, if there weren't a number of other notable Leonardos.

Titian and Raphael are 2 other rennaissance artists commonly known by their first names.

I spoke to someone today whose last name was Piero!!

Mind the Titian was the first name of Tiziano Vecelli.

Titian is Tiziano in Italian.

Being known by first name was a sort of status in Renaissance Europe - Santi (Rafaello Sanzio in Italian), Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo Di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni ... ...


Nice report in the New York Review of Books: The Titan of Titans

I heard on the news at lunch that the British Museum is staying open til midnight to cope with the demand to see the Michaelangelo exhibition!!
I think it closes in a couple of weeks.

The next Saturdays, the museum will open until midnight (for the time ever, btw).

The show closes on June 25.