the most famous artist in the history of Western civilization and arguably the greatest, was born in Arezzo, Italy, on March 6, 1475, and died 89 years later, on Feb. 18, 1564, in Rome. He is universally viewed as the supreme artist of the most hallowed period in art history, the Renaissance. He created monumental works of painting, sculpture, and architecture and left an additional legacy of numerous letters and poems. Michelangelo made an indelible imprint on the Western imagination. His magnificent frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, portraying God at the moment he created Adam, and the entire Biblical history of humanity besides, mark one of the highest artistic endeavors of all time. Michelangelo carved The Pieta and his David, two of his most famous statues, while he was still in his twenties. As a teenager in Florence, Michelangelo often conversed with the leading humanist poets and philosophers of the day, and, for a time, with the reforming Dominican monk, Girolamo Savanarola, and he worked for most of his life under the patronage of the rulers of Florence, the Medici princes, and of Pope Julius II in Rome, who ordered him to do the Sistine Chapel, much against his will. Michelangelo also designed a powerful new exterior for St. Peter's in Rome -- that colossal double order of Corinthian columns that we still see today and the magnificent ribbed dome that crowns the structure.

MODEL: Michelangelo's drive and stick-to-it-iveness. None of us has been born with talent like his. The only thing we can do is use the talent we have as well as we can. Oh, and one more lesson: if the pope tells you to do something, you'd better do it.

Your gravity. If you were born on February 18, you jazz up your surroundings with your ideas and energy. Ruled by the number 9 and the planet Mars, you exert a strong influence on those around you.

A guide to living. You are thoughtful, often stepping back to see the big picture, rarely getting mired in details. A fair person, you hear every side of the story before you make big decisions. A basic set of principles, a philosophy of life, guides your actions. This can make you rather rigid in the face of change. But because you seek the truth, you are usually open to various points of view and will bend eventually.

Don't forget the little stuff. Because of your dedication to your principles and goals, you may ignore small details which are important. It may be that you neglect housework or financial affairs, leaving it for others to clean up. They may resent you for this and feel you are being aloof or superior. Though you are self-assured and very independent, you don't purposefully ignore those around you. You are empathetic and sympathetic to a point, but you don't want to waste your time on people who whine about every little problem.

Flight or fight. Most February 18 people are oversensitive in their younger years and may either withdraw from the world's problems and dream of a better place or develop an armored exterior to do battle with it. In either case, they have definite ideas about what the world should be like.

Some advice: Don't ignore the little everyday matters. Pay attention to your friends' needs and stay connected to the world. By being more open and accepting, others can help you deal with loneliness and problems.

Also born on this day:
Andres Segovia (classical guitarist) Toni Morrison (novelist) Charles Schwab (investment firm founder) Yoko Ono (artist, singer, songwriter) John Travolta (actor) Cybill Shephard (actress) Milos Forman (film director) Helen Gurley Brown (editor-in-chief Cosmopolitan) Matt Dillon (actor) Jean Auel (novelist) Dong Kejun (Chinese woodcut artist) Alexander Volta (Italian physicist) Jack Palance (actor)