The Italian architect, sculptor, painter and poet Michelangelo Buonarroti (Caprese, 1475-Roma, 1564) is one of the key figures in the history of art. He began his professional training under Domenico Ghirlandaio in 1488. From 1519 to 1534 he was commissioned to work on the family tombs of the Medicis, while other major works resulted from his supervision of the refurbishment of the buildings round the Capitol in Rome. The climax of his architectural career was the Dome of Saint Peter's in the Vatican, created at the same time as his masterpiece of painting in the Sistine Chapel, commissioned by his most important patron. Pope Julius II.