Febo di Poggio
Michelangelo is remembered as being one of the most famous painters and sculptors in history. He is remembered for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and creating the statue of David. He regularly worked with nude male models. There are even a lot of nude men in the Sistine Chapel for no apparent reason. Critics called him “godless” for putting so many images of nude models on display, and it especially made the male lovers of these young men jealous. They had nothing to do with Bible stories, but Michelangelo just loved painting them. While it must have been obvious back when he was alive, very few people today know that he was gay and that he had a lot of male lovers throughout his life during the 1500s. He once wrote that it would be impossible to share true feelings of love with a woman.
One of the male sex workers who was in a relationship with Michelangelo was named Febo di Poggio. He was much younger, and used Michelangelo like a sugar daddy, demanded expensive gifts. It would seem that he had the artist wrapped around his finger so tightly, he called him his “little blackmailer”. The word “blackmail” seems harsh, and it was probably a joke, because Michelangelo actually wrote poems about Febo di Poggio. It’s very likely that he was in love with this young man. They eventually broke up. Michelangelo wrote that he was betrayed, but did not go into details. It’s very possible that he stole from him, since he was already very demanding about money. They both moved on their their lives, but it was a rare recording of this kind of relationship from history.