Michelangelo was a visionary artist who thought of himself first and foremost as a sculptor. He dealt as much with spirit as matter in his art, and retold stories everyone knew in ways that forced us to see them with fresh eyes. He took the tradition of the pieta and turned it into something eloquent, poetic. Still in his early 20s, the young Michelangelo worked with his mind as much as he did with his hands to reach for his philosophy of perfection.